The former head of the Khabarovsk Territory of the Russian Federation was accused of ordering the murder of two businessmen and in organizing an assassination attempt on another businessman in 2004-2005.
On Friday, February 10, a court in the Moscow region sentenced former Russian governor Sergei Furgal, whose arrest in the summer of 2020 sparked mass demonstrations opposition in the Far East.
Associated Press reports.
The court found the Russian official guilty of ordering the murder of two businessmen and organizing an attack on another businessman in 2004-2005. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison in a strict regime colony.
The lawyer of the convict, who pleaded not guilty, said that an appeal would be filed against this court decision.
52-year-old Sergei Furgal was the governor of the vast Khabarovsk Territory in 2018-2020 and was very popular in this territory. He was elected after defeating a candidate from Vladimir Putin's United Russia party.
Furgal represented the nationalist LDPR party, subordinate to the Kremlin, but whose elected representatives, especially in the regions, can sometimes be more critical of the authorities.
He was arrested on July 9, 2020, which provoked protests for his release, which gathered for weeks thousands of people, mainly in Khabarovsk. His supporters claimed the arrest was political.
Together with Sergei Furgal also convicted three of his accomplices – they received terms ranging from 9.5 to 21 years in prison.
Recall that at a trial held behind closed doors in the Leninsky Court of Minsk, the prosecutor requested a long sentence for human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, one of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
