Regional Russian Anti-Drugs Head Gets 8 1/2 Years for Bribe-Taking

Sep. 17, 2015

The former head of the Ryazan branch of the Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) was found guilty of bribe-taking and sentenced by a local court to 8 1/2 years in prison and a fine of 420 million rubles ($6.4 million), the court said in a statement Wednesday.

Acting via intermediaries, Igor Turovsky promised to unfreeze the accounts of a suspect and soften his detention conditions in exchange for a bribe of 6 million rubles ($91,000), the court found.

Turovsky's lawyer Alexei Pershin told the Kommersant newspaper that they would appeal the sentence. The lawyer added that his client does not have enough assets to pay the fine.

According to Kommersant, it was the suspect himself — Ryazan businessman Alexei Rashchupkin — who filed the complaint against Turovsky. He remains a suspect in a criminal case, the report said.

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