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Russian ex-defense official Vasilyeva leaves penal colony after parole ruling

The former chief of Russia's Defense Ministry property department, was sentenced in May to five years in the colony for causing damage to the state of about 650 million rubles ($9.6 million)

GOLOVINO /Vladimir region/, August 25. /TASS/. Former Defense Ministry official Yevgenia Vasilyeva, convicted for large-scale embezzlement, on Tuesday left a women’s penal colony in central Russia, after a district court in the Vladimir region satisfied a motion of her defense team on early parole.

Vasilyeva left the penal colony, where she had been serving her sentence since July 23, at 3:10 p.m. Moscow time, a TASS correspondent reported from the scene, adding that she drove away without making any comment to reporters.

Vasilyeva, the former chief of Russia's Defense Ministry property department, was sentenced in May to five years in the colony in a village located in the Vladimir region’s Sudogodsky district, in central Russia.

The court said Vasilyeva caused damage to the state of about 650 million rubles ($9.6 million at the current exchange rate). Last week, the defense lawyers said Vasilyeva had paid damages to the affected persons in full and there were no unsatisfied claims against her.

The Sudogodsky district court on Tuesday granted Vasilyeva early release on parole. Explaining the decision, the court said it had taken into consideration Vasilyeva’s "positive dynamics" while behind the bars.

Vasilyeva will not be allowed to move to another place without notifying an oversight authority, to appear in public places when being drunk, as well as to commit administrative offences. The woman also has to be employed.