Former Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Popov will spend 19 years in prison

Former Deputy Minister of Defense, native of Krasnoyarsk Pavel Popov, was sentenced to 19 years for bribery and fraud, RBC reports. The case concerns the construction of the Patriot military-patriotic park.

The verdict against Pavel Popov was passed by the 235th garrison military court. The meetings were held behind closed doors at the request of the military prosecutor, since, according to him, the case materials contained data that constituted official secrets.

The 69-year-old ex-deputy minister was found guilty of accepting bribes, fraud, illegal possession of weapons, forgery and abuse of power. As a punishment for him, the judge chose 19 years of imprisonment with a ban after his release for another 7 years from holding positions in the civil service and self-government bodies. Additionally, Pavel Popov will have to pay a fine of 85 million rubles. The court stripped him of the rank of army general and state awards and ordered the confiscation of funds in the amount of 45.6 million rubles to the federal budget.

Plus, the court fully or partially satisfied multimillion-dollar civil claims against Pavel Popov and other defendants in the case for compensation for material damage.

Popov's lawyer Denis Sagach told RBC that he considers the verdict obscurantist and will definitely appeal it. Popov himself did not admit guilt to any of the charges.

Pavel Popov — native of Krasnoyarsk. After studying in Almaty and serving in Germany, in 1993 he began working at the East Siberian Regional Center of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations (based in Krasnoyarsk), and then headed the regional center and was its head until 2004. After that, for 4 years Pavel Popov headed the Academy of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Moscow, for 5 years he was deputy minister, and then moved to the Ministry of Defense after Sergei Shoigu.

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