In Rostov-on-Don, court fines City Duma deputy for fake education diploma

The Magistrate Court of the Proletarsky District of Rostov-on-Don fined Valery Levin, the Deputy of the City Duma, for 70,000 roubles for presenting to the election commission prior the elections a fake certificate on higher education.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that investigation into the case on the diploma of Valery Levin was initiated at the request of Sergey Kosinov, Chief of Office of the Rostov Regional Branch of the "Spravedlivaya Rossiya" (Fair Russia) Party, after the elections, held in October 2010.

According to investigators, in August 2010, Valery Levin presented a fake diploma on higher education, which indicated his qualification of "economist" in specialty of "Economy and Management at Enterprise", to the district election commission of the Proletarsky single-mandate electoral precinct No. 29. He also indicated false information about his possession of higher education in his statement of consent to run for Deputy, the "Pravo.ru" reports.

The Court found Valery Levine guilty of using knowingly fake document (Part 3 of Article 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and fined him for 70,000 roubles, the RIA "Novosti" reports.

Valery Levin does not agree with the verdict and intends to challenge it, arguing that "the diploma is original." He explained the fact that the higher education institution did not submit the relevant documents that the case against him was fabricated, the "Rostov News Agency" reports.