The Supreme Court in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan has sentenced a man charged with the 2007 murder of a Russian opposition parliamentary candidate to 15 years in prison.
Farid Babayev, the leader of the liberal Yabloko party's branch in Dagestan, died in a hospital three days after being shot in November 2007 near the entrance of his apartment building in Makhachkala.
He was the leader in the republic's election roster from the Yabloko party, and was to run in the December 2 elections to the State Duma.
The court sentenced Rasil Mamedrizayev to 15 years in a high security prison, instead of the 16 years which was announced by the court in January 2009.
The earlier ruling was overturned by a jury in June 2009 after Mamedrizayev's lawyers appealed the decision. In May, the court said Mamedrizayev deserved "more leniency."
Meanwhile, the court ruled to acquit the second suspect in the murder, Seferali Sefemerzoyev, who was arrested in connection with the killing along with Mamedrizayev in March 2008.
"We are dissatisfied with the fact that the court has acquitted one of the defendants. There was a lot of work for the investigators in this case," said Artur Babayev, the brother of the victim.
MAKHACHKALA, June 3 (RIA Novosti)
