MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/. A court in Moscow on Thursday found the former governor of the Kirov Region, Nikita Belykh, guilty of bribe-taking, a TASS correspondent reports from the courtroom.

The judge began reading out the sentence with a statement the charges against Belykh had been proven. A punishment will be announced in the final part of the verdict.

The sentence continues to be read out.

Belykh was detained on June 24, 2016 in a Moscow restaurant the moment he was receiving a bribe. He was charged under Part 6 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code (gross bribe-taking) with receiving 600,000 euros in bribes personally and through mediators in exchange for preferential treatment of two local businesses - a ski factory and a forestry company. Belykh also played a role in including both economic entities in a list of priority investment projects and in the adoption of other favorable decisions.

The prosecution says Belykh’s guilt is fully proven. The defendant has pled innocent.