MOSCOW, October 20 (RAPSI) – The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on Tuesday upheld acquittal of ex-owner of Moscow’s confectionary Menshevik Ilya Averyanov of murder, lawyer Andrey Bastrakov told RAPSI.

On January 29, 2020, jurors acquitted the man of killing a guard during the shooting on the factory’s premises in 2017 and beating a passerby, who burnt up poplar wool near the factory in 2016. In February, the Moscow City Court delivered an absolutory sentence with respect Averyanov.

Thus, Averyanov was found not guilty of intended infliction of severe bodily harm and murder.

Investigators claimed that on December 27, 2017, a conflict arose between former and current owners of the factory. Ex-owner Averyanov allegedly took out the gun and shot several times, fatally wounding a guard.

The defendant insisted that he used the gun for the purposes of self-defense, and a shot was fired recklessly.