MOSCOW, March 2 (RAPSI) – The Supreme Court of Russia’s Republic of Mordovia has rejected a parole petition lodged by the 74-year ex-law enforcement officer Pavel Stakhovtsev serving life prison sentence for creating a gang, lawyer Sergey Mukhanov has told RAPSI.

Stakhovtsev was convicted and sentenced to shooting death in the early nineties for organizing a gang engaged in robberies and murders. However, the judgment was not executed because of the breakup of the Soviet Union; and the defendant was sentenced to life.

In 2016, the convict petitioned for parole, but was denied.

Another petition was dismissed in November. This ruling was appealed by the convict in the republican Supreme Court.