RUSSIA: Financier is jailed for 19 years by a Moscow court for ordering the murder of a top Russian central banker

Record ID: 560695

  • Title: RUSSIA: Financier is jailed for 19 years by a Moscow court for ordering the murder of a top Russian central banker
  • Date: 14th November 2008
  • Summary: (BN12) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE - 1989) (REUTERS) ANDREI KOZLOV SPEAKING AT NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS LISTENING NEWS CONFERENCE GIVEN BY ANDREI KOZLOV
  • Embargoed: 29th November 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Finance
  • Reuters ID: LVACG7ZYXUYAKIY7EMJEI4DYIP5M
  • Story Text: A Russian financier was jailed for 19 years on Thursday (November 13) for ordering the murder of a top Russian central banker who led a campaign against money laundering and corruption.
    Prosecutors said Alexei Frenkel had acted out of revenge when he ordered the killing of Andrei Kozlov, the 41-year-old deputy head of Russia's central bank who had revoked the licences of Frenkel's bank.
    Kozlov was shot dead in September 2006 as he left a soccer match in Moscow.
    It was one of the most high-profile killings of Vladimir Putin's 2000 to 2008 presidency, reviving memories of Russia's wild capitalism and contract killings of the 1990s.
    The state prosecutor Gulchekhra Ibragimova told journalists after the trial that she believed the sentence was just, in line with the law and well-founded.
    Prosecutors had originally asked the court to jail Frenkel, 37, for life. But Ibragimova said the sentence was reduced because he had apologised to the judge for his behaviour during the trial, during which he at one point accused the prosecution of slandering him.
    Along with Frenkel, six others were sentenced to various jail terms for their role in Kozlov's murder.
    The assassin who shot him and his driver were jailed for life and another man who shot only at the driver was handed 24 years in prison. The other four were sentenced to between six and 14 years.
    The court also ruled that the seven found guilty must pay Kozlov's father a total of 10 million roubles (364,000 U.S. dollars) "to make up for moral and material damage".
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