MOSCOW, September 30 (RAPSI) - The Presidium of Russia’s Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to overturn life sentence of ex-senator for Russia’s Bashkortostan Igor Izmestyev for organizing terror attacks and murders basing on a ruling of the European Court of Human Righs (ECHR), the court’s press service told RAPSI.

The Moscow City Court’s ruling was therefore upheld.

The former Federation Council member was arrested in January 2007. According to investigators, in 1992, Izmestyev with 12 other people organized a criminal gang that committed over 20 serious crimes, including 12 murders. He was suspected of involvement in the attempted murder of Ural Rakhimov, a son of former President of Russia's republic of Bashkortostan Murtaza Rakhimov and ex-CEO of oil company Bashneft.

During the trial Izmestyev insisted that the case against him was initiated by Ural Rakhimov and was examined with prosecutorial bias.

In December 2010, the Moscow City Court sentenced Izmestyev to life in prison for organizing terrorist attacks and murders.

According to human rights advocates, there were about 120 violations in those court proceedings. In 2017, now-deceased head of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alekseyeva asked President Vladimir Putin to pardon Izmestyev.