"The evidence is weak, and the punishment is harsh." The lawyer for the former Penza governor commented on the 13-year sentence requested by the prosecutor's office.
Today, the state prosecutor requested a 13-year prison sentence for the former governor. Penza Oblast Ivan BelozertsevHe is suspected of accepting a bribe and possessing a pistol.
As the lawyer emphasized in a conversation with NeMoskva Alexey Shuvarin, His client disagrees with the charges brought against him. And, according to his defense, his guilt was never proven during the trial.
According to investigators, in exchange for a bribe, the governor allegedly provided patronage to the Pharmacia company, which supplied drugs to Penza hospitals., — Shuvarin clarified. — As evidence, the prosecution presented testimony in court from a witness who worked as a pharmacy manager at one of the hospitals. During questioning by investigators, she claimed that the order to purchase medications exclusively from Pharmacia allegedly came from the Ministry of Health. However, in court, she explained that this information was based on rumors. In other words, no one told her who specifically to purchase the medications from. Moreover, she wasn't even involved in the procurement itself—that's handled by a completely different department within the hospital.
Alexey Shuvarin also noted that the hospital's chief physician and employees of the specialized contracting service stated in court that they had heard nothing about instructions to purchase medications specifically from Pharmacia.
According to the lawyer, the state prosecutor requested a 12-year prison sentence for accepting the bribe. The article, however, carries a maximum sentence of 8 to 15 years.
The evidence is weak and the punishment is harsh, "Shuvarin believes," he noted. He noted that they were asking for another four years for the pistol.
The prosecution requested that the final sentence be reduced to 13 years, as it did not find aggravating circumstances in Belozertsev's actions, and also took into account mitigating circumstances such as positive references, state awards, and a lack of a criminal record.
NeMoskva reported on the main inconsistencies in the criminal case against the Penza governor. here.
Photo: mvd.rf