In Volgograd Region, prosecutors ask court to sentence head of "Poisk" to 2.5 years of imprisonment

The public prosecutor in the case against Dmitry Kufenko, the head of the NGO "Poisk" (Search), accused of fraud, asks the court to sentence the defendant to 2.5 years of imprisonment. The defence of Dmitry Kufenko insists the event of a crime has not been proven and asks to acquit the defendant.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the head of the "Poisk" is accused of the fact that he has embezzled the money allocated to provide transportation for members of the expedition to find the remains of Soviet soldiers who perished in the battles of the World War II. According to the investigators, the members of the expedition travelled to the archaeological sites in their own way.

According to Dmitry Kufenko, search teams organize most of the expeditions at their own expense. However, he has noted that the regional government also allocates money to the search activities of the organization. So, on October 5, 2012, an auction was held. As a result, the "Poisk" and the state budget institution "Volgogradpatriottsentr" signed a contract for organization of 33 research expeditions. The contract amount reached 2,428,800 roubles.

During the forensic debates, public prosecutor Alexander Bondar has stated that Dmitry Kufenko fraudulently embezzled 416,000 roubles allocated under the contract.

According to Dmitry Kufenko, the testimonies given by the witnesses and the victim and the documents attached to the case materials prove that the "Poisk" was carrying out the search expeditions in their full volume and that the members of the expeditions were provided with transport units.

On June 19, the defendant will be given a chance to deliver his final speech.

See earlier reports: "Federation Council approves law on forced inclusion of NGOs in register of "foreign agents"", "Azerbaijan starts trying head of Educative Centre "Intellectual Citizen"", "Head of educative NGO Gasan Guseinli released in Azerbaijan".