The court arrested an official suspected of taking a bribe for two months.

In Novosibirsk, the court granted the request of the investigative authorities to arrest the head of the regional department of physical education and sports, Valery Yarov, suspected of receiving a large bribe through an intermediary. The defense, which proposed to release the official on the guarantee of well-known athletes in the city or a bail of 3 million rubles, intends to appeal the arrest. Speaking in court, Mr. Yarov stated that “being in custody is a disgrace for him,” and being in power did not bring him anything except “lack of free time and wild fatigue.”

The petition of the Siberian investigative department of the Investigative Committee for the arrest of the head of the department, Valery Yarov, was considered in the Zheleznodorozhny District Court. The official, dressed in a brand new suit and smelling of expensive cologne, was not handcuffed. Outside the courtroom, Mr. Yarov managed to exchange a few words with his friends who came to express support for him. The official told reporters that he was “not guilty” and that he had been “framed.” He used swear words through his words.

The first to speak was given to the head of the district department of the Investigative Committee, Vladimir Anufriev, who outlined the plot of the accusation. According to the investigation, the director of one of the Novosibirsk volleyball clubs returned part of the team’s budget funding to the official. As previously reported, the amount of the “kickback” was 2.5 million rubles. On April 10, when transferring the next payment, 500 thousand rubles, operatives of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Siberian Federal District arrested the intermediary, and on the night of April 11, Mr. Yarov was detained.

In support of the petition for Yarov’s arrest, Mr. Anufriev cited the following arguments. The crime of which the official is suspected represents a public danger, and the sanction provides for up to ten years in prison. In addition, according to the prosecution, Yarov can influence the course of the investigation, for example, by destroying evidence that is still unknown to the investigation, putting pressure on witnesses, or hiding. The investigators were apparently prompted to this idea by the fact that the official had submitted documents to obtain a visa to one of the European countries. “A milder measure of restraint than detention cannot be chosen,” the investigator concluded. The position of the Investigative Committee was shared by the representative of the Prosecutor General’s Office in the Siberian Federal District, Konstantin Naumkin.

Defense attorney Alexander Plevin said he was surprised by the position of the Prosecutor General's Office, since it should oversee compliance with the law. “The investigator’s request is unmotivated and illegal, and the prosecutor should have reacted to this,” the lawyer noted. Defense attorney Plevin called the investigation's arguments unsubstantiated "acoustic vibrations." His client allegedly planned a trip abroad a long time ago. As the official himself added, in Italy he intended to take part in the World Cup in skeet shooting and, based on the results of these competitions, could end up in the Russian Olympic team. The defense attorney also noted that his client’s release will not interfere with the investigation of the case, which, according to Mr. Plevin, “will end in a termination order.” The lawyer quoted President Dmitry Medvedev, who recommended more often using preventive measures alternative to arrest, such as bail. And he immediately offered to contribute 3 million rubles for his client.

The last to speak was official Yarov, who asked that the guarantees of famous Novosibirsk athletes be included in the case: Olympic champions Andrei Perlov and Evgeniy Podgorny, and the president of the “Success” club, Veniamin Pak. According to the official, being in power did not bring him anything other than “lack of free time and wild fatigue,” and he came to the department of physical education and sports from business for “ideological reasons.” “Being in custody is a shame for me,” the official noted.

It took the presiding judge Sergei Sokolov no more than half an hour to make a decision. He authorized Yarov's arrest for two months.

The same court granted the request of the Investigative Committee to arrest the alleged intermediary in the transfer of the bribe, Vasily Gorchakov. The defense of Messrs. Yarov and Gorchakov stated that they would appeal the arrests in the Novosibirsk regional court.

Konstantin Voronov, Novosibirsk

“Kickback” led to a pre-trial detention center