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Former defense minister featured in criminal case may be amnestied

On Monday, December 16, an investigation of the criminal case launched against Serdyukov was over

MOSCOW, December 17. /ITAR-TASS World Service/. Former defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov featured in a criminal case under the ‘negligence’ article may fall under the presidential amnesty, timed to mark the 20th anniversary of the Constitution, newspapers write on Tuesday.

On Monday, December 16, an investigation of the criminal case launched against Serdyukov was over. He is still facing charges of negligence, as charges against him were not upgraded. This means Serdyukov may fall under the upcoming amnesty.

The Komsomolskaya Pravda daily believes the failure to reclassify the charges is also connected with the fact that the ex-head of the ministry’s property department, Yevgenia Vasilyeva, also tried in the Oboronservis case, has refused to witness against Serdyukov.

The Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily marks that in order to be amnestied one must undergo some necessary in these cases procedures. The most important of them is to plead guilty, after which the state pardons you. So, the former high-ranking official may reverse his position from pleading not guilty to pleading guilty, agreeing with the investigation.

The Vechernyaya Moskva newspaper marks that the phrase “mutual guarantee” is increasingly often mentioned in commentaries to the Serdyukov case. “They should not have disturbed the society. People are outraged,” the first deputy chairman of the State Duma committee for security and anti-corruption fight, Magomed Vakhayev, told the newspaper.

Itar-Tass is not responsible for the material quoted in these press reviews

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