RFE/RL – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Russian Ex-Governor Gets 13 Years On Graft Charges

A Russian court has sentenced a former governor of the Sakhalin Oblast to 13 years in prison after convicting him on corruption charges.

In a February 9 decision, the court in the regional capital also ruled that Aleksandr Khoroshavin must pay a 500 million ruble ($8.6 million) fine and it barred him from occupying state posts for five years after he serves his sentence.

The 58-year-old former governor was also deprived of all his state awards.

The court found Khoroshavin guilty of bribery and involvement in a money-laundering conspiracy.

Khoroshavin became governer of Sakhalin, in the Russian Far East, in 2007.

In 2015, he was arrested and charged with taking some $5.6 million in bribes from a company in Sakhalin, Energostroi.

Two co-defendants -- former subordinates Andrei Ikramov and Sergei Karepkin -- were sentenced to 9 1/2 and eight years in prison respectively.

With reporting by Rapsinews, Mediazona, Interfax, and TASS