13 Dec 2018 14:59

Starovoitova murder mastermind asks for parole

BRYANSK. Dec 13 (Interfax) - Yury Kolchin, who has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for masterminding the murder of St. Petersburg politician Galina Starovoitova, has asked the Brasovsky District Court in the Bryansk region to release him on parole.

"The court has received his request and is now processing it," Bryansk Region Court spokesperson Galina Kubekina told Interfax on Thursday.

The court is expected to consider Kolchin's request on December 25, she said.

The Brasovsky Court is located in the village of Lokot; High-Security Penitentiary No. 4, where Kolchin is serving his sentence, is under its jurisdiction.

In 2016, Kolchin filed a parole request with the Tosnensky City Court of the Leningrad region. His application was denied. The prison administration was strongly opposed to Kolchin's release, citing his regular breaches of prison regulations.

Galina Starovoitova, a State Duma deputy and co-chair of the party Democratic Russia, was shot and killed in her apartment building in St. Petersburg on November 20, 1998.

Kolchin, who hails from the town of Dyatkovo in the Bryansk region, was arrested in October 2002. In June 2005, the St. Petersburg City Court found him guilty of masterminding Starovoitova's murder and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. He has already served 16 years, including his time in pretrial detention.

Vitaly Akishin, the perpetrator of the crime, was convicted at the same time and sentenced to 23.5 years in prison.

In August 2015, former State Duma deputy Mikhail Glushchenko was convicted of complicity in the organization of the crime. The court sentenced him to 17 years in a high-security penal colony and a fine of 300,000 rubles.