MOSCOW, November 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Supreme Court on Monday rejected appeals against a 19-year jail term for Alexei Frenkel, found guilty of organizing the 2006 murder of a banking regulator.
The Moscow City Court sentenced Frenkel to 19 years in prison in November 2008 for organizing the murder of deputy Central Bank chairman Andrei Kozlov.
Kozlov, who oversaw bank licensing and led a campaign against corruption and money laundering, was shot dead along with his driver in September 2006. Kozlov had earlier revoked the licenses of banks run by Frenkel, which, investigators said, inflicted huge losses on Frenkel.
The Moscow City Court then sentenced the assassin, Alexei Polovinkin, to life in prison, and gave the other five defendants prison terms ranging from six to 24 years. Today the Supreme Court reduced the prison term for one of the defendants, Maksim Proglyada, from 24 to 22 years.
According to case materials, Frenkel paid $300,000 for the murder, and the perpetrators received between $3,000 and $8,500 with intermediaries receiving over $80,000 each.
