Saratov court to review Furgal's verdict on August 23

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MOSCOW, August 3On August 23, the First Cassation Court in Saratov will review the verdict in the case of former Khabarovsk Krai Governor Sergei Furgal, whom the court sentenced to 22 years for organizing two murders and one attempted murder, said Artem Sarbashev, a lawyer for one of the defendants in the case, Andrei Paley.
Furgal was found guilty of committing murders as part of a group of people. As part of the same sentence, the former assistant to the ex-governor Andrei Karepov received 21 years in prison, Khabarovsk businessman Andrei Paley was sentenced to 17 years in prison for the murders of Furgal's competitors, and the former security inspector of the Mendeleyevo airport in Yuzhno-Kurilsk, Marat Kadyrov, who earned leniency from the jury, received 9.5 years in prison.

«A cassation hearing will be held on August 23 in the First Cassation Court in Saratov in relation to Furgal, Karepov, Paley, Kadyrov and others. We intend to challenge the verdict of the Lyublinsky City Court. The trial was conducted unfairly in violation of the very procedure of the trial with the participation of jurors,» the agency's source said.

He added that the defendants will participate in the hearing via video conference.
In early February last year, the Lyubertsy City Court of the Moscow Region sentenced Furgal to 22 years in a maximum security penal colony. The other defendants received sentences ranging from 9.5 to 21 years.
The defense in the appeal asked to send the case back for a new trial, believing that the jury had been pressured by Judge Gennady Tsoi. However, the Moscow Regional Court refused to review the case, the sentence entered into legal force, and now the cassation court will review it.

In addition, the Babushkinsky Court of Moscow is considering a second criminal case against Furgal for the theft of assets of MSP Bank as part of an organized group.

There are ten people in the dock, mostly employees of enterprises of the Torex group, which, according to the investigation, is connected with Furgal. The defendants are charged with organizing a criminal community, fraud in the lending sector, money laundering and illegal participation in entrepreneurial activity — almost a dozen and a half episodes in total.
Furgal himself does not admit guilt.