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Alexei Kozlov
Fyodor Savintsev
Published on 17/03/12
Alexei Kozlov is a prominent Russian businessman in the construction sector, believed by human rights groups to have suffered from a conspiracy to expropriate his property. On Thursday, March, 14 the judge presiding over the retrial of former businessman Alexei Kozlov issued an upholding Kozlov’s 2008 conviction on fraud and money-laundering charges and handing him a five-year prison sentence.Russian District Court judge read out the verdict for more than an hour in front of Kozlov and his wife, Olga Romanova, a prominent journalist.
Olga Romanova has written for Novaya Gazeta about the ordeals experienced by her husband and herself, including the pressure on her to bribe officials. Opposition thinks that happened because Olga Romanova is a key figure in the opposition movement against President-elect Vladimir Putin, the outcome of the high-profile case is widely seen as the first hint of how Putin plans to deal with challenges to his rule.