The case of the former head of the Penza region Belozertsev will be considered by the Izmailovsky court of Moscow

The Supreme Court (SC) of the Russian Federation decided to transfer the case of the ex-governor of the Penza Region Ivan Belozertsev and his alleged accomplices to the Izmailovsky District Court of Moscow for consideration on the merits. This was reported by TASS on Wednesday.

Thus, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation granted the request of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation to change the jurisdiction of the Belozertsev case.

In addition, the court extended until March 20 the period of arrest of the defendants themselves, their property, as well as the property of their relatives.

Belozertsev was charged with taking bribes on an especially large scale. According to the investigation, in 2020, as head of the Penza region, he received bribes in the form of money and other valuables totaling over 31 million rubles through intermediaries from businessman Boris Shpigel, his wife and other defendants in the case. In exchange for this, the Biotek group of companies was given competitive advantages when concluding government contracts.

All defendants in this criminal case are in custody. The prosecutor’s office believes that Belozertsev and Spiegel, despite being arrested, can still exert a serious influence on the officials of the Penza region. For this reason, the supervisory authority considered that it would be difficult to ensure an objective and impartial examination of the case there.