The court freed Belykh from punishment in the case of abuse of authority

The court released the former governor of the Kirov region, Nikita Belykh, from punishment in the case of exceeding his powers due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. This is reported by TASS. The prosecutor’s office asked for 12 years in prison for Belykh.

Now the ex-governor is serving an eight-year term in a colony on a bribe-taking case. Taking into account the term of detention in the pre-trial detention center, Belykh should be released in 2024.

Nikita Belykh was detained in Moscow on June 24, 2016, when he was in the position of governor. In February 2018, the court found him guilty of taking a bribe and sentenced him to eight years in a penal colony.

In July 2021, the Investigative Committee of Russia opened a new criminal case against the Whites – under the article on the abuse of power. According to the investigation, the governor, “acting out of personal interest,” allowed the budget Kirov regional mortgage corporation to lend 320 million rubles to one of the private companies. According to the investigation, the money was not returned.

Belykh was not found guilty in either the first or the second case.

• In 2005–2008, Nikita Belykh headed the opposition party “Union of Right Forces”. In 2008, he was one of the founders of the United Democratic Movement “Solidarity”, but later left it. President Dmitry Medvedev appointed him the governor of the Kirov region, Alexei Navalny worked as his adviser for a while (the first criminal case against Navalny is connected with his activities in Kirov – the “Kirovles case”. Belykh, giving testimony in court in 2013, did not talk about Since June 2018, Belykh has been serving time in a colony in the Ryazan region.