MOSCOW, March 12 (RAPSI) - The former head of Russia’s Udmurt Republic Alexander Solovyov, who had been sentenced to 10 years in high-security penal colony for bribery, petitioned a court asking to release him from punishment due to his illness, the United press service of the region’s community of judges reported Friday.

Currently, the convict is in a penitentiary hospital.

Solovyov was sentenced to prison in mid-October 2020. He was found guilty of bribe-taking on an especially large scale. In addition to the 10-year prison term he was fined 275 million rubles (about $3.6 million at the current exchange rate).

In the course of the probe the former official admitted guilt and cooperated with investigators; he presented detailed information about the crimes he had been charged with; nevertheless, he changed his position at the court hearings saying he did not commit bribery, the statement reads.

According to the charging documents, in 2014-2016, Solovyov received bribes amounting to 140 million rubles from representatives of organizations behind the construction of bridge crossings over the Kama and Buy rivers in the Udmurt Republic.

On April 4, 2017, Solovyov was relieved of his position on decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin.