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Former head of Vostochny spaceport construction company sentenced to 12 years behind bars

Yuri Khrizman guilty of wrongdoing during the construction of facilities of Vostochny spaceport with a damage amounting to more than 5 billion rubles ($88 mln)

Yuri Khrizman Mikhail Metsel/TASS

Yuri Khrizman

© Mikhail Metsel/TASS

KHABAROVSK, February 26. /TASS/. The Far Eastern District Military Court has found former head of Dalspetsstroy (the Far Eastern branch of Russia’s Federal Agency for Special Construction) Yuri Khrizman guilty of wrongdoing during the construction of facilities of Vostochny spaceport with a damage amounting to more than 5 billion rubles ($88 mln), a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom.

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"The court hereby finds Khrizman guilty under Part 3 of Section 285 of Russia’s Criminal Code and Part 4 of Section 160 and sentences him to 12 years in prison and a fine of 1.5 mln rubles ($26,400)," Judge Andrei Vakhnenko said.

On Monday, the Far Eastern District Military Court in Khabarovsk began pronouncing the verdict in the case of abuse of power during the construction of Vostochny spaceport with the damage to the tune of over 5 billion rubles. The defendants included former head of Dalspetsstroy Yuri Khrizman, chief accountant Vladimir Ashikhmin, Khrizman’s son Mikhail and fomer Deputy Speaker of the Khabarovsk Territory Legislative Duma Viktor Chudov.

Criminal cases against Khrizman and his son, Chudov and Ashikhmin were launched in 2014-2015. Khrizman and Ashikhmin are charged with abuse of power, which entailed damage worth 5.2 bln rubles (Part 3 of Section 285 of the Russian Criminal Code).

Khrizman, his son Mikhail and Chudov are also charged with large-scale embezzlement - about 106 mln rubles ($1.8 mln) that belonged to Dalspetsstroy (Section 160 of Russia’s Criminal Code).

The case has been being examined by the Far Eastern District Military Court since May 2016. Court hearings are held behind closed doors, because case files contain information constituting a state secret.

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