MOSCOW, 27 Jul. The Moscow City Court sentenced retired judge Elena Kondrat to 9 years in prison for mediating a bribe to her colleague, the correspondent reports.
judge Alexandra Kovalevskaya. The court also fined her 77 million 964 thousand rubles and deprived her of the right to hold positions in government agencies, the judiciary and law enforcement agencies for a period of 5 years.
Kondrat was found guilty of mediation in bribery on an especially large scale (part 4 of article 291.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The state prosecution asked her for 11.5 years. Lawyer Maksim Pashkov said that the defense will appeal against the verdict, which was passed «in case of major procedural violations.»
According to investigators, Kondrat offered Elena Makhalkina, a colleague in the Moscow Arbitration Court, who is considering a bankruptcy case, to make a decision on bringing certain persons to subsidiary liability and not bringing others to bear for $50,000. She, according to the investigation, persuaded Makhalkina during telephone conversations and personal meetings. She turned to the FSB, giving her consent to participate in the operational experiment. The transfer of money was already under the control of law enforcement officers.
Kondrat pleaded not guilty and insisted that a provocation had been committed against her, said her lawyer Maxim Pashkov, he repeatedly stated that his client she did not offer bribes to anyone, and the criminal case is the revenge of the leadership of the Moscow Arbitration Court for her intractability.
She has been in custody since April 2022, when the High Qualifications Board of Judges agreed to her arrest.
Elena Kondrat heard bankruptcy cases and, according to information on the website of the Arbitration Court, has worked as a judge since 2008.