Khabarovsk court sentences former Dalspetsstroy head to 12 years in jail in Vostochny Cosmodrome embezzlement case
KHABAROVSK. Feb 26 (Interfax) - The Far Eastern District Military Court in Khabarovsk has handed down a sentence in a case involving embezzlement of over five billion rubles during the construction of Vostochny Cosmodrome.
Yury Khrizman, former head of Dalspetsstroy, and Vladimir Ashikhmin, the company's former chief accountant, were found guilty of abuse of office and embezzlement, a court official told Interfax. Khrizman was sentenced to 12 years in jail and Ashikhmin received seven years in jail.
"The other people implicated in the case, Viktor Chudov, former chairman of the Khabarovsk Territory's duma, and Mikhail Khrizman [the son of Yury Khrizman], also got jail terms. Viktor Chudov received six years in a penal colony and Mikhail Khrizman was sentenced to 5.5 years in jail," the court official said.
The court also ordered the convicts to pay 5.16 billion rubles in damage as part of the Roscosmos lawsuit, he said.
According to earlier reports, the trial into the Vostochny embezzlement case began in the Far Eastern District Military Court in Khabarovsk in May 2016. The case was tried behind closed doors.
Yury Khrizman and Vladimir Ashikhmin were charged with abuse of office during the construction of the Vostochny Cosmodrome facilities in the Amur region, which resulted in damage worth some 5.2 billion rubles.
The defense lawyers for the people implicated in the criminal case intend to appeal.
"An appeal will be filed. We will go as high as the Supreme Court," Igor Anisimov, a lawyer for Yury Khrizman said.
Alexei Sleptsov, a defense lawyer for Ashikhmin, also said he disagrees with the sentence.
"Seven years in a penal colony is too much," the lawyer told reporters.