Former Vice Speaker of the City Duma of Voronezh Alexander Provotorov was sentenced to two years in prison for fraud.
According to the court, he tricked his colleague and ally in United Russia, Alexander Zhukov, by promising to help him with the elections in exchange for a million rubles, but did not follow through. The convict did not show up for the verdict, reportedly ending up in the hospital with a suspected heart attack on the way to court. His defense claims that he does not intend to hide. The sentencing of the former first vice-speaker of the Voronezh City Duma, Alexander Provotorov, in the Central District Court, began with a 40-minute delay, as the defendant did not appear. Judge Svetlana Alexandrova started the reading without him, which confused the journalists present.
49-year-old ex-deputy of the City Duma and director of Voronezh Experimental Mechanical Plant LLC, Alexander Provotorov, was found guilty of fraud (part 3 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). A criminal case was initiated against him a year ago by the regional department of the TFR based on materials from the FSB department for the Voronezh region. The court established that in the summer of 2020, the first vice-speaker, Provotorov, decided to deceive an experienced United Russia deputy, the general director of the Yarmarka trade and exhibition center, 66-year-old Alexander Zhukov. The latter was first elected to the City Duma in 2001; in the elections the year before last, he was re-elected in one of the single-mandate constituencies.
The vice-speaker promised to informally agree on the candidacy of Mr. Zhukov for nomination with the top leadership of the city and region, as well as to take “other actions” for his successful election. At the same time, Alexander Provotorov initially understood that he could not influence this in any way, and simply wanted to get the money.
Alexander Zhukov was successfully re-elected to the City Duma. But a few months later, he nevertheless wrote a statement to law enforcement agencies. He explained the hitch by the protracted formation of the Duma after the elections: “I lost sight of all this, and then I got sick with the coronavirus, I was in the hospital. While I was lying, I realized that I did not do the right thing for myself. The victim assured the court that he did not receive the help he was counting on, but does not believe that the vice speaker deceived him. Mr. Zhukov asked not to put Provotorov, who refused the post and mandate, in prison after he returned 1 million rubles to him.
The deputy asked for 1 million rubles for his services. The investigation found that Alexander Provotorov received the first 200 thousand rubles at the end of June 2020 during a personal meeting with a businessman in the City Duma building. The rest was transferred to him through the driver at the place of work of the entrepreneur.
During the debate, the prosecutor’s office asked the court to send the defendant to a penal colony for 3.5 years. Lawyer Vera Belkina, in her speech, considered it possible to impose a fine on him. Provotorov himself said that he had enough time under house arrest to analyze the situation.
“I admit myself completely guilty, I regret what I have done, I sincerely repent, which is confirmed by my actions. I hope for a fair and legal verdict,” Provotorov said in court yesterday.
As the editors found out, this morning, on the way to court, Alexander Provotorov became ill.
“Now he is in the hospital. We don’t know the diagnosis, but in such a situation, a person can have a heart attack, ”a source in his entourage told the editorial office before the verdict was passed.
Alexander Provotorov himself did not answer calls and messages from the editorial office.
Judge Svetlana Alexandrova appointed the former vice-speaker two years in a penal colony. After the verdict was passed, she said that the convict would be put on the wanted list. The interlocutors of the editorial office in the legal community noted that the verdict was announced reasonably, since the court was not aware of the impossibility of Provotorov’s presence for health reasons.
Lawyer Vera Belkina told the editorial office that her client was in the hospital: “He is in serious condition, a heart attack is suspected.” According to her, the location of the principal in the hospital is documented, and he himself is not going to hide.
“The verdict will be executed in any case. Either he himself will come after he is cured, or they will come for him, ”the lawyer summed up. She vowed to appeal the verdict.
Alexander Provotorov is 49 years old. From the mid-1990s, he worked at DSK, where he rose to the post of Deputy General Director for Economics. In 2007, he was elected director of Voronezh Experimental Mechanical Plant LLC, which he heads to this day. He has been elected to the City Duma continuously since 2005.
