The Lyubertsy City Court at an off-site meeting in the Moscow Regional Court on February 10 announced the conviction of the former governor of the Khabarovsk Territory, Sergei Furgal (LDPR). Earlier, on February 2, the jury found him involved in organizing the murders of businessmen and the assassination attempt. Judge Gennady Tsoi sentenced Furgal to 22 years in prison in a strict regime colony – this is the longest term received in Russia by former heads of regions who have passed into the category of convicts.
Three other defendants in the Furgal case received shorter sentences: Andrey Karepov – 21 years in a colony, Andrey Paley – 17 years, Marat Kadyrov was sentenced to the shortest term of 9 years and 6 months in a strict regime correctional colony. According to the investigation, which has now been confirmed by the court, in 2004-2005. Furgal, who at that time was engaged in the business of collecting and reselling scrap metal in Khabarovsk, organized a criminal group whose members killed businessman Yevgeny Zorya and Furgal’s former business partner Oleg Bulatov. Members of the group, according to the TFR, also attempted to kill businessman Alexander Smolsky.
The direct organizer of the murders and assassination attempt was Karepov, who, after Furgal was elected to the State Duma in 2007, worked as his assistant. Paley and Kadyrov were recognized as the performers. Charges in the case were also filed against Furgal’s former business partner and ex-co-owner of the Amurstal plant, Nikolai Mistryukov. He, unlike the other four defendants in the case, admitted his guilt, entered into a pre-trial agreement on cooperation and testified.
“Your Honor, the verdict is clear. Only one thing is not clear. Shame on you? Aren’t you ashamed of this sentence?” Furgal said after the verdict was announced. His defender Boris Kozhemyakin told Vedomosti about his intention to appeal the court’s decision. According to him, when the jury delivered its verdict, a gross violation of the Code of Criminal Procedure was committed – in particular, the corresponding decision of the jury and the distribution of votes “for” and “against” have not yet been formalized.
Now Furgal is 52 years old. Given the special severity of the crime, he will be able to apply for parole after two-thirds of the time served. Accordingly, if we subtract the period of detention in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center (Furgal spent about 2.5 years in the detention center), he will apply to the court for release no earlier than 12.5 years later.
Furgal from 2007 to 2018 was a State Duma deputy from the LDPR, after which in 2018 he was elected governor of the Khabarovsk Territory from this party. He had been in office for less than two years before his arrest.
None of the leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party came to the announcement of the verdict. “The LDPR has always respected the basic principle of not influencing the work of the court,” the party said in a statement. It also notes that after the entry into force of the sentence, Furgal has the right to ask the president for a pardon. “The founder of the Liberal Democratic Party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, repeatedly spoke about this possibility at the beginning of the investigation. The party will support such a decision,” the party said in a statement. The new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Leonid Slutsky, did not comment on Furgal’s sentence.
How long were former governors sentenced to?
Alexander Khoroshavin (Sakhalin Region) – 13 years in a strict regime colony
Leonid Markelov (Mari El) – 13 years in a strict regime
Vyacheslav Gaizer (Komi) – 11 years of strict regime
Alexander Solovyov (Udmurtia) – 10 years of strict regime
Vyacheslav Dudka (Tula region) – 9 years in a strict regime
Nikita Belykh (Kirov region) – 8 years in a strict regime
Nikolay Podgornov (Vologda region) – 7 years of general regime
Nikolai Denin (Bryansk region) – 4 years of general regime
Alexander Prokhorov (Smolensk region) – 3 years of general regime
The deputy chairman of the Duma faction Yaroslav Nilov said that the party throughout the entire time Furgal was in the pre-trial detention center “provided the assistance that was required.” He recalled that Zhirinovsky “repeatedly emphasized that the party has many questions about why 18 years later they suddenly began to deal with this matter.” “Yes, we did not give up hope that the jury’s verdict would be different, but such a verdict that we have, and we take note, no matter what emotions overwhelm us,” said Nilov. When asked about Furgal’s membership in the party, Nilov said that “at the moment no one is raising or discussing him, and no one has posed or discussed him before,” especially since the verdict has not entered into force.