Former vice-mayor of Berdsk avoided court-ordered work

Yesterday, the Berdsk City Court sentenced former vice-mayor Vladimir Mukhamedov. The ex-official was found guilty of using a forged document when applying for this position, as well as obstructing business activities, and was sentenced to 400 hours of compulsory labor. However, Mukhamedov will not serve this sentence, since it is “compensated” by house arrest.

Yesterday, the court of Berdsk completed the consideration of the case of former deputy mayor Vladimir Mukhamedov. It was opened by the investigative department of the Investigative Committee for the Novosibirsk region a year ago. According to the prosecution, in April 2011, Mr. Mukhamedov, who did not have the required three years of work experience in management positions required by law, submitted a false employment contract to the city hall’s personnel department when applying for a job. It indicated that Vladimir Mukhamedov held the position of director of legal and economic issues at Impulse LLC, which is managed by his father-in-law. Investigators charged the official under Art. 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Use of a knowingly forged document”).

The second episode of the charge is related to abuse of power (Article 286). As stated in the case, by order of the deputy head of Berdsk, letters were sent to preschool and educational institutions with instructions to terminate contracts with commercial companies for the collection and transportation of household waste and enter into agreements with the municipal “Spetsavtokhozyastvo”.

The matter became politically charged. The regional branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation stated that criminal prosecution of the vice-mayor is one of the ways to put pressure on the communist Ilya Potapov, who heads the city administration. Even before the trial, Mr. Mukhamedov, who denied all charges, wrote a letter of resignation of his own free will. After this he joined the Communist Party.

The trial began in the summer of 2012. During the debate between the parties, the prosecutor reclassified the charge from “exceeding authority” to “obstruction of business activity” (Article 169) and demanded a punishment of 300 hours of compulsory labor for the ex-official. The defense stated that it would only be satisfied with the complete acquittal of Vladimir Mukhamedov. It took the judge two days to announce the verdict. As a result, the court sentenced the former deputy mayor to 400 hours of compulsory work. In addition, Mr. Mukhamedov was deprived of the right to occupy leadership positions in local government bodies for one year.

Since the two months of house arrest that Mukhamedov was under is equivalent to 480 hours of compulsory labor, it turned out that he had already served his sentence. However, the defense stated that it would appeal the overturning of the verdict to the regional court.

Konstantin Voronov, Novosibirsk

The ex-official stayed at home