Three former police officers , convicted of falsifying the case against journalist Ivan Golunov, will leave the colony. The court commuted their punishment from imprisonment to forced labor.
This was reported to TASS on Wednesday by the journalist’s lawyer. Sergey Badamshin.
“Maxim Umetbaev and Akbar Sergaliev, who received 7.5 years each, as well as Denis Konovalov, who was sentenced to 4.5 years, the court replaced the punishment with an alternative, namely forced labor in the correctional centers of the Federal Penitentiary Service,” Badamshin said. In turn, ex-policeman Roman Feofanov, sentenced to 7.5 years, the court refused to replace the sentence.
Also, according to the lawyer, Golunov in court supported the replacement of Konovalov’s punishment and did not object to forced labor for Umetbaev and Sergaliev, but opposed the release of Feofanov, since he did not apologize.
In May 2021, the court sentenced Igor Lyakhovets, the former head of the department for combating illicit trafficking in drugs of the Internal Affairs Directorate for ZAO Moscow, to 12 years in prison in a penal colony, former employees of the department who took part in the detention of the journalist – Maxim Umetbaev, Roman Feofanov and Akbar Sergaliev – received 8 years in prison each, Denis Konovalov – 5 years. The court also deprived the former policemen of special ranks and banned them from holding positions related to the exercise of the functions of a representative of the authorities for periods of up to 5 years. Later, the Moscow City Court reduced the punishment for former policemen by 6 to 9 months.
The journalist of the Meduza online publication (recognized in the Russian Federation as a foreign media agent) Golunov was detained in Moscow on suspicion of selling *** ticks on June 6, 2019, on June 8 the court placed him under house arrest. Three days after the start of a public campaign in support of the journalist, he was released, all charges against him were dropped. Five police officers who took part in the arrest of Golunov, as well as the head of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Western Administrative District of Moscow, Andrey Puchkov, were fired from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On December 19, 2019, it became known that a criminal case was opened on the fact of the journalist’s detention on abuse of power by police officers. Golunov was recognized as a victim in this case.
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