Leninsky District Court on Monday, January 23, sentenced the former rector of the Voronezh State Technical University (VSTU) Sergei Kolodyazhny. The corpus delicti was reclassified. As a result, Sergei Kolodyazhny was convicted under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (large-scale fraud). The maximum penalty under the article is imprisonment for a term of 10 years. The ex-rector was sentenced to five years in prison in a penal colony and a fine of 1 million rubles. At the same time, he will be counted the periods of being in a detention center and under house arrest: one day in a pre-trial detention center – for 1.5 days in a colony, and one day under house arrest – for a day in a colony. This was reported to the correspondent of RIA “Voronezh” in the press service of the court. Sergei Kolodyazhny was taken into custody immediately after the verdict was announced.
Sergei Kolodyazhny was detained in March 2020 on suspicion of taking a bribe. Since October 2021, he has been under house arrest, before that he spent a year and a half in a pre-trial detention center. Criminal cases were opened under Part 6 of Art. 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (receiving a bribe on an especially large scale by an official), providing for up to 15 years in prison, and under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud committed by an organized group on an especially large scale), the maximum penalty for which is 10 years in prison. In February 2021, the charges were mitigated, but then reclassified again.
The former rector was accused of allegedly giving higher bonuses to his subordinates, and then taking part of the money for himself. Sergei Kolodyazhny categorically disagreed with this. The amount of 58 million rubles, in his opinion, was taken “from the ceiling.”
The debate on the case of Sergei Kolodyazhny began on December 14, 2022. At the meeting, the state prosecution requested 8 years in a general regime colony for the ex-head of the university.
The defense has already announced that it will challenge the verdict.
Kommersant.Ru, 01/23/2023, “Prizes were knocked off to the rector”: According to investigators, Sergei Kolodyazhny allegedly received 1.65 million rubles through wire transfers, and the total amount of the awarded bonuses amounted to 58 million rubles. The rector, according to the prosecution, received money mainly in cash under the pretext of expenses for the current activities of the university.
The time spent in custody and house arrest during the investigation of the case and the trial was counted towards Sergei Kolodyazhny’s serving of his sentence. According to Kommersant’s calculations, 2.5 years will be credited to him. The court retained the arrest on the car of the defendant brand Ford and on his previously arrested cash – 2.4 million rubles. and more than $1 thousand
The judge also dismissed the civil suit of the prosecutor, who asked to recover from Sergei Kolodyazhny all bonuses allegedly received by him. The reasons for this decision due to the non-disclosure of the reasoning part of the verdict are unknown. — Inset K.ru
