Declaration of innocence

In the last word, the former governor of the Kirov region Nikita Belykh accused of bribery again declared his innocence. It is reported by "Mediazona".

Belykh noted that in court the receipt of bribes was not proved. The ex-governor pointed out the contradictions in the testimony of witnesses of the prosecution, the absence of a number of documents in the case file proving his innocence. Belykh emphasized that an attempt to present the inconsistency of the income of his expenses is not confirmed by anything.

“Everything that I did was not aimed at achieving any personal selfish goals - it makes no sense to go to work as the governor of the Kirov region for earning money,” the whites said. “My goal was to show that power could be different than such as a significant part of the population. That power could be open, democratic, aimed at resolving issues.”

“I ask you to excuse those who were waiting for political statements today - I don’t want to do this. I want one thing: for the court to figure out the situation and make a fair decision. I ask you to make a fair decision in my case and fully justify me,” the whites concluded his speech.

Tatyana Vasyuchenko will take the verdict to the ex-governor of the Presnensky district court of Moscow on February 1.

On Wednesday, in the debate of the parties, the prosecutor Marina Dyatlova requested for the defendant 10 years of strict regime . Dyatlova also demanded to fine white for 100 million rubles and eight years after the deadline to ban his work in state structures.

The whites are charged with two episodes qualified under part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code (receiving a bribe on an especially large scale). According to the plot of the case, in 2011-2012, an official through intermediaries received a bribe 200 thousand euros from businessman Albert Laritsky, who at that time belonged to the Novovytsk Ski plant and the forestry management company Kirovles (one of the co-founders of this company was the state-owned enterprise Kirovles, in which politicians Alexei Navalny was convicted). The bribe claims the charge, the whites demanded for the approval of these companies to include their investment projects in the list of priority, the provision of forest plots on preferential conditions and “general protection” of Laritsky.

In 2013, the owner of both companies, the last of which was renamed the Forestry Management Company, was German citizen Yuri Zyudheimer (Sudgaimer). He is stated in the case, found out that enterprises did not fully fulfill the conditions of priority investment projects, and this threatened to terminate the lease agreements of forest sites from the regional government. Meanwhile, the White in 2014 promised that if Zyudheimer gives him a bribe of 400 thousand euros, the government will close his eyes to violations committed by firms. The first half of the bribe, the prosecution claims, the governor received the same year, and when transferring two years later, the second half of the official was detained with red -handed.

The detention was carried out on June 24, 2016 in the Moscow bar . The next day the whites were arrested. At the same time, initially the Investigative Committee claimed that the official was taken upon receipt of all 400 thousand euros, and not half of this amount.

The episode dated 2011-2012 appeared in the case only in March 2017, shortly before the presentation of the white final accusation. The lawyer of the former official Andrei Grokhotov explained the inclusion of a new episode by the fact that the case of his client is falling apart. Among the persons appearing in the case as intermediaries in the transfer of bribes, the lawyer mentioned a certain Sergey Shcherchkov.

On July 28, 2016, Vladimir Putin removed Belykh from his post "In connection with the loss of trust." As the attorney of the arrested Vadim Prokhorov reported, his client "with understanding refers to the need for this step."

Hearing on the merits of the case opened on September 5, 2017 . White refused to admit guilt. “We are talking about some kind of nonsense,” he said, hearing the indictment. “All this is a banal provocation by law enforcement agencies built on the words of people dependent on them. I will remind you that Laritsky was convicted, and Zyudheimer was also delayed by law enforcement agencies.”

The former official adhered to the same position earlier. At the same time, he always emphasized that he did not consider his persecution politically motivated.