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Court overturns verdict for businessman

Russia's Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned the verdict for entrepreneur Andrei Kozlov, convicted for fraud

MOSCOW, September 20 (Itar-Tass) — Russia's Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned the verdict for entrepreneur Andrei Kozlov, convicted for fraud. The court thereby met the defense's petition.

"The supervisory board of the Supreme Court overturned the verdict and subsequent resolutions on Kozlov, and returned the case to court for retrial. The measure of restraint for the defendant was changed from custody to written pledge not to leave the city," a Supreme Court official said.

In 2009, Moscow's Presnya court found Kozlov, the husband of well-known journalist Olga Romanova, guilty of grand fraud and attempted money laundering and sentenced him to eight years in jail.

An appeals board of the Moscow City Court reduced the term to 7 years and later commuted it to five years.

According to the verdict, Kozlov, as chairman of the board of directors of the Iskozh company which produced artificial leather and sheeting set up a criminal group in 2006 to come in possession of 33.4 percent of shares of this company worth 253, 096,000 roubles through dummy persons.