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Moscow Court Convicts Former Economy Minister, Hands Down Eight-Year Prison Term


RFE
15 Dec 2017

A Moscow court has found former Russian Economy Minister Aleksei Ulyukayev guilty of taking a 'large bribe' in a high-profile corruption case and sentenced him to eight years in a strict-regime prison.

Judge Larisa Semyonova read out the verdict and sentence on December 15 after a delay of some 90 minutes in starting the hearing. The court barred media from broadcasting the hearing live.

'Ulyukayev knew and was aware of the character of his actions,' Semyonova said during the reading of the verdict, which lasted nearly three hours.

Ulyukayev was also ordered to pay a fine of 130 million rubles ($2.2 million) and barred from holding public office for eight years after he is released from prison.

He was taken from the courtroom into custody.

Prosecutors had asked the court to sentence Ulyukayev to 10 years in prison and to fine him some $8.5 million.

Defense attorney Larisa Kashtanova told journalists before the sentence was pronounced that Ulyukayev would appeal his conviction.

Ulyukayev, who is the highest-ranking official to be arrested since the Stalin era, was accused of taking a $2 million bribe from Rosneft state oil company CEO Igor Sechin in exchange for his ministry's approval of the sale of the state-owned regional oil company Bashneft to Rosneft.

As he waited for the judge to appear and start the hearing at the Zamoskovetsky district court, Ulyukayev told journalists that he expected 'justice.'

Prosecutors have asked the court to sentence Ulyukayev to 10-years in a 'harsh regime' prison and to fine him some $8.5 million.

Ulyukayev, 61, has denied the accusation and said he was the victim of a set-up.

'All the materials collected in the case prove that I did not commit any crime,' he said during his trial. 'I am a victim of a monstrous and cruel provocation.'

Ulyukayev claims he was tricked by Sechin and believed that a bag full of money that he accepted from Sechin contained a gift of rare wine -- not $2 million in cash.

Sechin is a powerful, long-time ally of President Vladimir Putin.

In the state's closing argument on December 7, prosecutor Pavel Filipchuk said evidence proved that Ulyukayev took the money as a bribe in exchange for his ministry's approval of the sale of the state-owned regional oil company Bashneft to Rosneft.

Filipchuk dismissed as 'groundless' Ulyukayev's allegations that the case was a set-up by Sechin and Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).

Ulyukayev is seen as a member of the liberal camp in the Russian ruling elite, while Sechin -- a longtime former deputy chief of staff at the Kremlin -- is perceived as a hard-liner and one of Putin's closest allies.

Ulyukayev was arrested at Rosneft's Moscow headquarters early on November 15, 2016, hours after a meeting with Sechin.

Putin fired him the following day, but not before he became the only serving minister to be arrested since Josef Stalin's henchman, Lavrenty Beria, was detained and executed after the dictator's death in 1953.

Putin weighed in on the trial during his annual press conference on December 14, mentioning a decision by Sechin to refuse to appear in court and testify as a witness despite being summoned four times.

Putin said Sechin's failure to testify was not illegal, but the president seemed to suggest he was displeased by the refusal, saying at the Rosneft chief 'could have come' to the trial.

With reporting by Merhat Sharipzhan, AFP, TASS, Reuters, and AP

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