"Understand and forgive." A Nizhny Novgorod official sold a forest with a lake, for which he was banned from holding any management positions. He refuses to resign.

Picturesque lake and forest in the village of Chembiley, which the villagers planted themselves half a century ago, the head of the Krasnooktyabrsky district Rinat Zhalyalov sold for 1,6 million rublesHe was convicted of negligence and banned from holding leadership positions. The chapter on this not agree: filed an appeal and is still holding on tightly to his seat.

An official sold a natural lake with a forest in 2021 without any auction. Judging by cadastral documents, the real value of the plots was much higher—more 31 million rublesLocal residents, for whom the natural area was a favorite recreation spot, were outraged, and the prosecutor's office intervened.

In court, Zhalyalov admitted his guilt and paid the imposed fine of 100 rubles. However, he has no intention of serving the second part of his sentence. Kstati journalists were unable to find out from the official why he hasn't resigned yet: he's on vacation. His subordinates, when asked about their attitude toward their convicted boss, responded as follows: "I don't know anything at all," "What kind of criminal is he? He didn't kill anyone.".

For some reason, Nizhny Novgorod residents don’t believe that the official will be truly punished, they are being sarcastic in kcomments: Zhalyalov needs to be “understood and forgiven, he didn’t know that this wasn’t possible.”

On the positive side, the land with the lake and forests was returned to the municipality. Local residents continue to relax and fish there.

Photo: from open sources; Rushan Ryashitovich