15:50, 31 March 2014

Krasnodar: verdict to Savva to be announced on April 2

Mikhail Savva. Photo from personal account at http://vk.com

As reported by activists from the courtroom, on April 2, the Pervomaisky District Court of Krasnodar plans to announce the verdict to Professor Mikhail Savva, the Director of Grant Programmes of the Southern Regional Resource Centre.

Today, the court held debates on Mikhail Savva's case; he is accused of embezzlement of budget funds allocated by the administration of the Krasnodar Territory in the form of a grant and of receiving money for fictitious classes at the university. The prosecution asks to find the professor guilty and sentence him to 3.5 years of conditional imprisonment and a fine of 70,000 roubles. The defence demands to acquit him.

The female judge retired to the jury room, after which the court secretary said that the verdict will be announced on April 2 at 3:00 p.m. Moscow time, an activist Olga Zazulya, who ran a broadcast of the session, wrote on the Twitter.

The defendant has stated, in his final plea, that the case against him had been falsified.