19:00, 2 April 2014

Court in Krasnodar decides to release Mikhail Savva on recognizance not to leave

Mikhail Savva at the Pervomaisky District Court of Krasnodar, 2014. Photo by Olga Zazulya, Group of support of Mikhail Savva http://vk.com

Today, the Pervomaisky District Court of Krasnodar has sentenced Professor Mikhail Savva from the Kuban State University to 3 years of conditional imprisonment with a probation period of 2 years, and a fine of 70,000 roubles.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Mikhail Savva was accused of embezzling the budget funds allocated by the administration of the Krasnodar Territory in the form of a grant and receiving payment for fictitious lectures at the university.

The above court decided to release Mikhail Savva from his home arrest and appoint recognizance not to leave pending the entry of the sentence into force.

During the today's session, Mikhail Savva refused to plead guilty and stated that he would appeal against the verdict.

"I'll appeal against the verdict; and I'll go as far as the European Court of Human Rights, because the charges are not just frivolous, they’ve been invented," the RIA "Novosti" quotes Mikhail Savva as saying.