Velsk court receives plea from Platon Lebedev's lawyers to ease punishment
ARKHANGELSK. July 9 (Interfax) - The Velsk District Court in the Arkhangelsk region has received a motion from lawyers of former Menatep head Platon Lebedev for easing the punishment of their client following amendments in criminal legislation, Interfax was told at the court on Monday.
The motion from Levedev's defense draws the attention of the court to the amendments made in the Criminal Code. "Punishment stipulated by page 3 of Article 174.1 of the Criminal Code has been significantly eased and sanctions that used to amount to confinement for a term of up to 10 years have been changed and now amount to a term of up to seven years and the minimal term was canceled altogether," the document says.
The lawyers stressed that the amendments also apply to persons serving their sentences.
Therefore, the defense of the former businessmen asked the court to reduce Lebedev's sentence to the term he has actually served and release him from further punishment.