MOSCOW, February 25. /ITAR-TASS/. Former Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov accused of negligence officially asked investigative bodies for amnesty, a source familiar with the situation told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

“Yes, this is true, he asked for amnesty. He has state medals, including those for combat actions in 2008,” the source said. In his words, for this reason Serdyukov is recognized to be a participant of combat actions, because he headed the Defense Ministry then. “Therefore, he falls under the terms of amnesty,” the source noted.

Last December, Serdyukov was officially charged with negligence. Detectives found that he gave oral instructions to his subordinates to build at the expense of the Defense Ministry’s budget a motor road from Krasa village in southern Russia’s Astrakhan Region to Shkolny Island, where non-profit partnership Zhitnoye is situated. Meanwhile, the former minister also instructed to develop Zhitnoye territory. Detectives believe that Serdyukov’s criminal action inflicted more than 56 million rubles (around $1.5 million) of damages to the state. The former defense minister did not plead guilty.