Three former deputies were sentenced to lengthy prison terms in Volgograd.

A court in Volgograd sentenced former Volgograd City Duma deputies Yevgeny Shchur and Fyodor Litvinenko to 13 years in prison, and their colleague, Alexey Zverev, to 14 years.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on September 16, the state prosecutor demanded 16 to 17 years in a maximum-security prison for former Volgograd City Duma deputies Yevgeny Shchur, Fyodor Litvinenko, and Alexey Zverev, accused of organizing a criminal organization and fraudulently faking traffic accidents.

The Volgograd Central District Court today sentenced five defendants accused of embezzling millions of rubles from insurance companies, including three former city council members. They were found guilty of organizing a criminal organization, fraud, and money laundering.

"Two council members were sentenced to 13 years in prison and a fine of 1.8 million rubles, and another to 14 years in prison and a fine of 2 million rubles. Their accomplices were sentenced to 5.5 and 6 years in a general regime penal colony," the Volgograd Investigative Committee reported.

The investigation and the court established that three former Volgograd city council members created a criminal organization to embezzle funds from insurance companies by staging fictitious traffic accidents. The defendant, Maxim Kalashnikov, acted as an "emergency commissioner," while Natalya Volodina prepared fake expert reports, the department said in a statement. Other emergency commissioners and experts were convicted separately on 550 counts.

All five defendants pleaded not guilty. Yevgeny Shchur and Fyodor Litvinenko were each sentenced to 13 years in prison, Alexei Zverev received a 14-year term, Maxim Kalashnikov was sentenced to six years, and Natalya Volodina to 5.5 years, according to a statement from the United Press Service of the Courts of the Volgograd Region.

The "Caucasian Knot" also reported that in May 2021, former investigator Dmitry Nikolaev was detained in Volgograd on suspicion of receiving two large bribes. In late 2020, a video recording surfaced in which Nikolaev admitted to fabricating cases and extracting confessions on the orders of his superior, General Mikhail Muzraev. Specifically, Nikolaev allegedly falsified the criminal case materials against Shchur, Zverev, and Litvinenko. Later, Dmitry Nikolaev retracted his statements and resigned from the investigative agencies.