The former mayor of Russia’s Far East capital of Vladivostok has been sentenced to 15 years behind bars on charges of large-scale commercial bribery and abuse of power.
Igor Pushkaryov was detained in June 2016 on accusations of abusing his authority to mastermind a large-scale trade deal between the local government and a building supply company headed by his relatives. He was one of more than 25 mayors who were detained, arrested or interrogated between 2012, when Vladimir Putin returned to power, and mid-2016.
A Moscow judge sentenced Pushkaryov to 15 years in maximum-security prison and ordered him to pay a fine of 500 million rubles ($7.7 million), the Dozhd TV news channel reported Tuesday evening.
His brother Andrei Pushkaryov received a suspended sentence of eight years with five years of probation, according to Interfax. A third co-defendant, the former head of a municipal road enterprise, was sentenced to 10 years in maximum-security prison.
Prosecutors had asked the judge to hand Pushkaryov a 17-year sentence.
His lawyer told Interfax the defense plans to appeal the sentence.