The Moscow City Court overturned the sentence of municipal deputy Ketevan Kharaidze in the case of fraud. OVD-Info drew attention to the court's decision.
The deputy's case was sent for a new trial to the Tverskoy District Court of the capital. As stated in the resolution of the Moscow City Court, the verdict was overturned “due to the discrepancy between the conclusions of the [first instance] court and the actual circumstances of the case.” The decision was made at a court hearing on May 6.
In December 2022, Kharaidze was sentenced to four years in a general regime colony, a fine of 700 thousand rubles and a two-year ban on holding positions in government bodies after his release. In addition, the court satisfied the claim against the deputy for five million rubles from the victim in her case.
According to investigators, Kharaidze, who fought against infill development in the capital, used deception to extort 15 million rubles from Andrei Stepanov, a representative of the development company Stone Hedge. The prosecution argued that the deputy took advantage of the company’s conflict with area residents who were dissatisfied with the construction of an elite residential complex.
The case against Kharaidze was opened in the summer of 2021 after she announced her intention to participate in the State Duma elections . The deputy herself connected the criminal prosecution with her conflict with Stone Hedge, which was then building the elite complex Cameo Moscow Villas on Dolgorukovskaya Street. Residents of neighboring houses said that due to problems with the sewage system they began to “drown in feces.”
Kharaidze’s sentence was approved in the summer of 2023, after which the deputy was transferred to a colony in the Tver region. In March 2024, the case was considered in the Court of Cassation, which decided to return the materials to the appeal stage, and Kharaidze herself chose a preventive measure in the form of detention.
After a search in June 2021, the deputy was detained by security forces and sent to The pre-trial detention center where she went on a hunger strike for a week and a half to protest her arrest. A month later she was released under house arrest. In September 2021, Kharaidze again won the municipal elections in her district.