The Krasnodar Region Court has dismissed the sentence of Nadezhda Tsapok, mother of the man accused of organizing a November 2010 mass murder in the Kushchevskaya village, and ordered a retrial in a regional court.
Tsapok was convicted of fraud in August 2011. The prosecution claimed that, as general director and founder of Arteks-Argo, she had arranged the illegal acquisition of 15 million rubles ($456,000) in state subsidies despite owing twice that in outstanding taxes.
The court recovered the subsidy, sentenced her to three years in prison and ordered her to pay a 500,000 ruble fine. She has already served two out of her three years.
The Russian Supreme Court accepted an appeal from Tsapok's lawyer and transferred it to the Krasnodar court, RIA-Novosti reported. The regional court will now review the case in view of two laws allowing it to consider mitigating and aggravating circumstances during sentencing.
Tsapok also faces 10 additional years in prison in separate fraud cases.
Tsapok's fraud trial has attracted attention mostly because of her son, Sergei Tsapok. He and the gang he reportedly led are on trial in a Krasnodar regional court for the massacre of 12 people, including four children, who had gathered for a celebration in a farmer's home.
The younger Tsapok has refused to testify until the court questions Alexei and Yevgeny Gurov, brothers who were detained on the same charges but later released.
