ST. PETERSBURG, June 11 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) – The St. Petersburg City Court has upheld sentence given to ex-deputy chief of the Federal Penitentiary Service’s (FSIN) St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region Directorate Sergey Moiseyenko for receiving bribes amounting to 710 million rubles (about $10 million) during the construction of a detention center, RAPSI has learnt from the United press service of St. Petersburg courts.

In February, Moiseyenko received 18 years in a maximum security penal colony.

The Kolpinsky District Court of St. Petersburg found the defendant guilty of receiving a bribe as a state official acting in conspiracy with other persons and with the use of extortion. Moiseyenko did not plead guilty and refused to testify. The court sentenced him to 11 years behind bars; in combination with the 15 years term Moiseyenko had been given earlier for organization of assassination against his subordinate by the Leningrad Regional Court he is to be in confinement for 18 years, according to the statement. The defendant was also deprived of his rank of the colonel of internal service.

According to case papers, from March 2010 to August 2015, Moiseyenko received over 710 million rubles from CEOs of two commercial organizations for common protection. In particular, he ordered his subordinates to sign without delays reports of completion, cover them, pay advances at the start of every year at the maximum value stipulated by a state contract signed earlier.

Another defendant in the case, ex-deputy director of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) Nikolay Barinov was earlier convicted and sentenced to 3.5 years in prison and a 950,000-ruble ($15,000) fine.