Former editor-in-chief of the Voronezh regional newspaper sentenced to four years

The Leninsky District Court of Voronezh yesterday sentenced the former editor-in-chief of the regional newspaper “Molodoy Kommunar” Alexander Pirogov to four years in prison and ordered to pay 20 million rubles in favor of the state news agency “RIA Voronezh” (its structure today includes the newspaper). Mr. Pirogov was accused of misappropriating these funds and abuse of power; he did not admit his guilt. The verdict was announced in the absence of lawyer Alexander Pirogov and became a “real shock” for his relatives, who are planning to appeal it.

Alexander Pirogov (right) was arrested in the courtroom
Photo: Sergey Penkin

Judge Alexander Kuryanov found the former editor-in-chief and director of the regional newspaper “Young Communar” Alexander Pirogov guilty of “embezzlement” (Part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and “abuse of power” (Part 1 of Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). He was sentenced to four years in prison to be served in a general regime correctional colony. The regional prosecutor's office reported this to Kommersant. The department noted that the same court decision fully satisfied the claim of the regional institution RIA Voronezh, which is the legal successor of the OSU “Newspaper “Young Communar””, in the amount of over 20 million rubles.

The case of Alexander Pirogov changed its plot several times. It was initiated in 2009 by the regional department of the Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR) under the article “Bribery” of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. According to the investigation, in August 2009, through the commercial director of the OSU “Newspaper “Young Communar”” Marina Babina, Mr. Pirogov received a bribe of 50 thousand rubles from an entrepreneur. Allegedly, when the editorial office receives the second part of the money, another 50 thousand rubles. — after the publication of the ordered article, the editor-in-chief was detained.

In 2011, the case was sent to court, but on the eve of the verdict, at the request of the state prosecutor, the materials were returned to the prosecutor’s office “to remove obstacles” in its consideration, and from there to the Investigative Committee. “Completing the incompleteness of the investigation” began. As a result, two more cases were opened. The Investigative Committee claimed that during the investigation they established how, from 2006 to 2009, Alexander Pirogov stole funds from the newspaper in the amount of about 20 million rubles. “by concluding fictitious agreements with a number of organizations on the provision of agency services to attract legal entities and individuals for their advertising and information services.” Investigators also believed that in 2009, the editor-in-chief “paid for the installation of electrical wiring” in a house he was building in the Lesnaya Polyana cottage village using money from the Young Communard. For this purpose, Roman Lisov, who performed work in the cottage, was hired by the institution as a manager of the printing department, and the damage to the organization amounted to more than 140 thousand rubles. Subsequently, the three cases were combined into one and sent to court. However, the defense managed to appeal the legality of the association. In December 2012, when the episode under Art. 290 (“bribe”) was again separated into separate proceedings; by a resolution of the investigator for especially important cases of the regional Investigative Committee, Matvey Sladkikh, the case was “discontinued for lack of corpus delicti.” The remaining two were again united and sent to court, which began considering the case in October of this year.

Lawyer Denis Tyunin, who represented the interests of the journalist, was not in the courtroom when the verdict was announced. At the previous hearing, when Alexander Pirogov gave his last word, Mr. Tyunin petitioned to postpone the next hearing to a later date, but the judge did not grant the request. “We did not expect that the verdict would be announced the day after the debate. It was made on the basis of evidence that was collected with gross violations of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and besides, there is no objective data confirming the guilt of my client on both counts,” Mr. Tyunin noted yesterday.

In his speech, the former chief editor paid attention to a number of law enforcement officers, especially the first deputy prosecutor of the Voronezh region Vasily Khromykh, whom he called “the curator of all events.” The regional prosecutor's office did not comment on these words. According to Alexander Pirogov, thanks to his activities in Voronezh, “a large underground gaming club was closed,” the owners of which “were connected with high-ranking representatives of law enforcement agencies.” In essence of the charges brought against him, the ex-head of the newspaper explained that “he himself did not understand anything about the peculiarities of accounting and completely trusted the chief accountants.” However, he noted that the activities of the “Young Communard” were checked by the regional control and accounts chamber in the fall of 2009, and then an audit was organized by the new management. These inspections “did not reveal any significant violations.” “I consider the accusation brought against me to be completely far-fetched and absurd,” summed up Alexander Pirogov. At the same time, he refused to answer the state prosecutor’s questions, citing Art. 51 of the Constitution.

A Kommersant source close to the family of Alexander Pirogov said that for everyone, including the convicted person himself, the verdict was a “real shock”: “Everything went well in court, the case seemed to be falling apart. Many witnesses, including those brought by the prosecution, spoke in our favor. Now we are, of course, thinking about an appeal.”

“Our side has no fundamental disagreement with the verdict. The prosecution formulated a proposal to impose a sentence associated with actual deprivation of liberty,” state prosecutor Svetlana Shatirishvili explained to Kommersant. Deputy head of the department of communications and mass communications of the regional government (responsible for the development of RIA Voronezh) Ilya Sakharov told Kommersant that he learned about the verdict from social networks. He does not believe that the funds collected by the court will go to the enterprise. “As a human being, I feel sorry for Pirogov; no one in the regional government wanted his blood,” said Mr. Sakharov.

Vice-President of the International Union of Lawyers Sergei Borodin, who previously defended Alexander Pirogov on the episode of accepting a bribe, expressed regret that in this case the amnesty is not applicable, since “only it could improve the situation” of the former editor-in-chief of the Young Communard. “The initial charges were dropped on procedural grounds, and the current ones were processed in the normal court and investigation mode. The verdict was unexpected only in terms of the length of the sentence, especially since the newspaper’s claim for damages was fully satisfied,” noted Mr. Borodin.

Andrey Tsvetkov, Maria Starikova

"Young Communard" was released on time