OREANDA-NEWS. The Court in Nizhny Novgorod on Wednesday, February 24, sentenced the former head of the of Mari El Republic Leonid Markelov to 13 years of imprisonment in a high-security colony and a fine of about 3 million dollars. Earlier, he was found guilty of receiving a large-scale bribe, abuse of official authority, as well as illegal possession of ammunition. Hearings in the case have been held since April 2019. In November of the same year, a court in Nizhny Novgorod seized Markelov's property in the amount of about 30 million dollars.

According to the investigation, Markelov received money for patronage and assistance in the property payment of state support funds for the development of the agricultural complex. He gets the bribe from the owner of LLC «Poultry Farm Akashevskaya» Nikolai Krivash through the director of LLC «TV Company 12 Region» Natalia Kozhanova. Kozhanova was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Another person involved in this case — the former vice-governor and part-time ex-Minister of Agriculture and Food of Mari El Iraida Dolgusheva was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for abuse of office.