17 April 2015, 02:14
Mikhail Savva's conditional sentence replaced by real imprisonment
On April 14, the Krasnodar Territorial Court considered the appeal filed by the defence of Mikhail Savva and upheld the decision to replace his conditional sentence by real imprisonment. This was reported by the "RAPSI" (Russian Agency of Legal and Judicial Information) on April 16 with reference to an official from the Territorial Prosecutor's Office.
On April 2, 2014, Professor Mikhail Savva from the Kuban State University and Director of Grant Programmes of the Southern Regional Resource Centre was sentenced to three years of conditional imprisonment. Professor Savva was accused of embezzling the budget funds allocated as a grant by the administration of the Krasnodar Territory, as well as of receiving payment for fictitious lectures at the university. He completely denied his guilt.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 19, Professor Savva confirmed his departure from Russia, arguing that he took the decision out of fear of further prosecution. On February 20, it was announced that Mikhail Savva was put on the federal wanted list. On March 3, 2015, the court in Krasnodar replaced the conditional imprisonment imposed on Mikhail Savva by three years in a colony-settlement.
According to Marina Dubrovina, Mikhail Savva's advocate, the defence asked the court of appeal to reduce the period of the actual imprisonment for the Professor, since he spent almost a year in detention and under house arrest during the investigation and trial.
"I have requested to set off that period; however, the court did not mention the subject," the "Interfax-Yug" quotes Marina Dubrovina as stating.
Till present, no comments from Mikhail Savva on the decision of the Territorial Court have been available.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that a number of human rights defenders spoke against the prosecution of Mikhail Savva. They have noted that the Professor was detained soon after he criticized the actions of law enforcers engaged in inspections of NPOs in the southern regions of Russia.
Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.
