A court in Russia's Kirov region on December 26 sentenced the region's imprisoned former governor, Nikita Belykh, to an additional 2 1/2 years in prison on a charge of abuse of power but spared him from serving the fresh sentence, citing the statute of limitations.
Belykh is currently serving an eight-year prison term on a bribe-taking charge that he rejects and is up for release next year.
Prosecutors sought an additional 12 years for Belykh on two charges of abuse of power, but the judge acquitted Belykh of the more serious of the two charges due to lack of evidence, handing him only a 2 1/2-year sentence on the lesser of the two charges, adding that he will not serve that prison term due to the statute of limitations.
The 12 years requested by prosecutors would have included the time Belykh has already served, meaning the additional charges filed against Belykh in 2021 would have added about four years to Belykh's current prison time.
However, according to the court's December 26 ruling, Belykh's total eight-year prison term was not changed and he is set to be released in June.
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 is the victim of a provocation by law enforcement authorities.
Once a leader of a liberal opposition party, the Union of Right 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 Perm Oblast and a lawmaker in the Perm Oblast Legislative 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 the appointment in 2009 by then-President Dmitry Medvedev.
Putin fired Belykh in July 2016, shortly after his arrest.