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Prosecutor demands 5 years in jail for Kozlov accused of fraud

The trial continues

MOSCOW, March 11 (Itar-Tass) —— The prosecutor demands five years in prison for the husband of a well-known journalist Olga Romanova and a businessman Alexei Kozlov, who is accused of misappropriation of the stock of the Iskozh Company (produces artificial leather and leather materials).

“I ask the court to find Kozlov guilty of fraud and sentence him to five years in a general security penitentiary,” the public prosecutor said at the court proceedings at the Presnensky District Court of Moscow.

Meanwhile, a representative of the injured party Vendort Traders Inc also asked the court to find Kozlov guilty and sentence him to five years in prison. According to him, the businessman misappropriated the stock of the company. Meanwhile, he believes that when the deal was concluded the signatures were counterfeit and Kozlov was aware of this offence.

Kozlov premeditated the misappropriation as a civil legal deal, the Vendort Trades Inc representative said.

According to him, the prosecutor proved the full guilty of the businessman and asked the court so that a verdict will meet the principles of justice.

The trial continues.

Meanwhile, several dozens of people with white ribbons on the clothes gathered at the Presnensky District Court. On Saturday, the organizers of the For Fair Elections opposition rally urged people to come to the court, where this criminal case is being tried, in support for the businessman. They also demanded for a fair trial against Alexei Kozlov.

The detectives found that in 2006 the businessman at the post of the chairman of the Iskozh board of directors had formed a criminal group that through dummies misappropriated 33.4% of stock in the foresaid company to the tune of over 253 million roubles. Kozlov did not plead guilty.

The Presnensky District Court tries the criminal case repeatedly. In 2009 the court found Kozlov guilty of fraud, attempted money laundering and sentenced him to eight years in a general security penitentiary. Later the cassation penal of the Moscow City Court commuted the sentence to seven years in prison and then to five years in prison. On September 20, 2011, the Russian Supreme Court overturned the verdict, sent the criminal case for a retrial and put Kozlov on recognizance not to leave the city instead of the term in custody.

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