A Moscow court on Friday sentenced to nine years in prison an eighth accomplice in the 2006 contract killing of First Deputy Central Bank Chairman Andrei Kozlov, the highest-ranking official murdered during Vladimir Putin’s two terms as president.

Andrei Kosmynin, who was convicted of coordinating the scheme to kill Kozlov, was sentenced to a high-security facility, said Anna Usacheva, a spokeswoman for the Moscow City Court.

The judge in the case rejected a leniency request by Kosmynin’s lawyers, who cited his confession and stated remorse, Interfax reported.

Kozlov, who headed the Central Bank's drive against money laundering, died after being shot in the head and neck by two men as he left a sports center in central Moscow.

Kosmynin was the last of eight suspects to be sentenced in the case. The same court in 2008 sentenced Alexei Frenkel, a former banker, to 19 years in prison for organizing the murder.

(Bloomberg, MT)