VLADIVOSTOK, December 25 (RIA Novosti) - Three killers of a Russian general in charge of the Coast Guard in the Far Eastern region of Sakhalin have been sentenced to four and a half years in prison Monday after a jury found them guilty on manslaughter charges.
On May 21, 2002, Alexei Anikin, Alexei Britov and Sergei Malyutin set fire to Gen. Vitaly Gamov's apartment in the region's capital, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, by throwing Molotov cocktails through the windows.
The man and his wife, Larisa, sustained severe burns in the blaze. The couple was rushed to a city hospital and then transferred by helicopter to a clinic in Japan.
He died of his injuries a week later. His wife survived with severe disfiguring burns requiring surgery.
The convicts were ordered to pay 750,000 rubles ($28,000) in damages to Gen. Gamov's widow and son.
Officials have said Gamov's killing is linked to his crackdown on poachers involved in the illegal fishing trade with Japan, China, and South Korea.
