Prosecutors in Russia's Kirov region on December 4 asked a court in the regional capital of Kirov to sentence to 12 years in prison the region's former governor, Nikita Belykh, who is already serving an eight-year prison term on a bribe-taking charge that he rejects.
Belykh was arrested in July 2016 and sentenced to eight years in prison on February 1, 2018, after a Moscow court found him guilty of taking about 400,000 euros ($435,150) in bribes in 2012-16 in connection with timber projects in the region.
One of the highest-ranking officials to be arrested in office since President Vladimir Putin was first elected in 2000, Belykh maintained his innocence, saying he was the victim of a "banal provocation" by law enforcement.
In July 2021, the Investigative Committee launched a new probe against Belykh, accusing him of abuse of office. According to investigators, while leading the region, Belykh used his post to illegally obtain 320 million rubles ($3.5 million) from a mortgage company for a local business.
The prosecutor's office added that the 12 years requested by prosecutors would include the time Belykh has already served, meaning the new case would add about four years to Belykh's current prison time.
Belykh has maintained innocence in the new case as well.
Once a leader of a liberal opposition party, the Union of Rightist Forces, Belykh was one of the few provincial governors in Russia not to be closely allied with Putin.
Before serving as Kirov governor, Belykh was a deputy governor of the Perm region and a lawmaker in the regional assembly.
He conducted several political campaigns in opposition to Putin's policies and was sharply criticized by liberals such as former ally Boris Nemtsov -- who was assassinated in February 2015 -- when he accepted appointment in 2009 by then-President Dmitry Medvedev.
Putin fired Belykh in July 2016, shortly after his arrest.