Former Vladivostok Mayor Oleg Gumenyuk had his 12-year prison sentence for bribery overturned after receiving a state award while serving in the Russian military, the Primorye region’s court system said Wednesday.
Gumenyuk, who served as mayor of the Far Eastern port city from 2018 to 2021, was convicted in 2023 of accepting a multimillion-ruble bribe, a charge he denied.
He joined the Russian army in 2024 under a law allowing convicts to suspend or erase their sentences if they complete military service or receive certain state honors. President Vladimir Putin introduced the measure as part of efforts to boost the number of soldiers fighting in the war against Ukraine.
According to the Primorye court system, the regional bailiff service stopped enforcing Gumenyuk’s prison term on July 29, 2025, after he was awarded the Order of St. George under a presidential decree.
The court system said Putin’s decree allowed Gumenyuk to be “fully released from serving the sentence” from the date he received the award.
A Vladivostok court on Monday also lifted the seizure of properties and vehicles that Gumenyuk owns.
His lawyer, Alexander Kitayev, told the business newspaper Kommersant that Gumenyuk served in a military unit for convicts, was wounded and has since recovered. He remains in the military but no longer serves with that unit, Kitayev said.
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