The Moscow City Court commuted the sentence of the former director of the Chertanovo football academy, Nikolai Larin, who was sentenced to three years in prison in the case of fraud for 36.2 million rubles. This was reported to Business FM by the press service of the court. “He was released in the courtroom,” a spokesman said.
Thus, the higher instance granted the appeals of the convict and his lawyers.
“The court mitigated Larin’s punishment for each of the crimes, the total term of which amounted to 2.5 years of suspended imprisonment,” he gave details of the decision. “In accepting this, the Moscow City Court took into account extenuating circumstances: charitable activities and full compensation for damages in the case.”
Larina’s lawyer, Maria Eismont, said that a huge number of athletes from among the former pupils of her client came to the court on May 24, and they even had to bring additional chairs into the courtroom. Also there was the former Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Nikolai Lukin. “The courtroom met the decision with applause. We are very pleased with him. Nikolai will leave the Butyrka pre-trial detention center tonight,” the lawyer said.
The appeal hearing began on May 3. After the representatives of the defense and the prosecution spoke, the hearing was adjourned until May 24 to prepare them for the debate of the parties.
The judgment was contested by both the defense and the prosecution. The convict and his lawyers asked to reduce the sentence of the district court, issued on September 28, 2022.
Then the Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow found Larin guilty of two episodes of fraud on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation): in the amount of 12.1 million rubles and in the amount of 24 million rubles. The case concerned the illegal allocation of funds from the budget in 2019-2020 for the maintenance of professional athletes of the so-called higher sportsmanship. As the audit conducted at the club found out, 34 of them were no longer studying at school in these years. However, Larin indicated them in the statements for receiving money. The director of the football academy “Chertanovo” did not deny his guilt and explained that he was forced to deal with postscripts in order to provide decent maintenance for the pupils and coaches of the club, who are financed per capita. Larin wrote a confession.
In a higher court, his defense asked for a reduced sentence, given that the damages in the case had been fully repaid. As Larin’s lawyer Maria Eismont told the radio station earlier, the former pupils of Nikolai Larin, many of whom now play in the teams of the Russian Football Premier League, in particular in Spartak, paid 36.2 million rubles in full to the victim – Moskomsport.
The prosecutor’s office, which demanded four years and four months in prison for Larin, asked the Moscow City Court to toughen the punishment for the convict.
During the investigation and trial, Larin was under house arrest. He was taken into custody after the verdict was announced. He was transferred to a colony, but on the basis of a complaint from the defense, he was returned to Moscow to consider an appeal. He participated in it via video link from the Butyrka pre-trial detention center.
