Russia's chief military prosecutor has accepted the legitimacy of a pardon granted to former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, a news report said Tuesday.
Having previously questioned the legality of Serdyukov's amnesty, the prosecutor ordered that an investigation be carried out by special research institutions, Kommersant reported, citing Communist State Duma deputy Valery Rashkin. The prosecutor's name was excluded from the story.
The commission reportedly concluded that the grant of amnesty was fair, though the prosecutor's office did not identify details of the institution or of the professionals that carried out the assessment, according to Kommersant.
The former minister was removed from his post by President Vladimir Putin in November 2012 amid allegations of large-scale corruption believed to have cost the state 13 billion rubles ($360 million).
Serdyukov was suspected of involvement in the allocation of ministry funds and soldiers for the construction of a road and the development of a holiday resort in the Astrakhan region belonging to Serdyukov's brother-in-law, Valery Puzikov, at a cost to the state of 56 million rubles ($1.5 million).
Ultimately, Serdyukov was charged only with negligence, and was unlikely to face jail time.
Still, dozens of criminal cases involving Defense Ministry corruption remain under investigation, Rashkin told Kommersant.
Interfax broke the story in March that Serdyukov had been pardoned.
His lawyer Genrikh Padva then said during a meeting of Moscow lawyers that the amnesty had been approved earlier in 2014 in a deal that had remained hushed in order to avoid "agitating the public," legal news agency RAPSI reported.
Padva later denied that the comments had been anything other than hypothetical.
The State Duma passed a broad amnesty in December, resulting in the release of Pussy Riot members Nadia Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, as well as the detained members of the Greenpeace Arctic Sunrise crew.
See also:
Contact the author at [email protected]
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.
