Prosecutor requests 23 years in prison for former Khabarovsk governor Furgal

The prosecutor has requested a 23 years prison sentence for Sergey Furgal, a former governor of Russia’s Khabarovsk region, TASS reports.

The jury found Furgal guilty of contract murder and attempt on life on 2 February. Furgal and three more individuals were accused of committing two contract murders of businessmen and an attempt on life in the early 2000s. The accused pleaded not guilty and asked the jury to acquit them of charges during their final plea.

“It is important for me to leave no doubt about my accusation, it is important to make my name clean again, which is more precious than any money. <…> Business, if it is not criminal, has never been solved by murder. What’s the point: you kill one, another will take his place. I have never resolved issues like this,” Furgal said during a court session on 30 January as per TASS.

Furgal noted that he had been in custody for a long time. “You will go into history, and it is up to you to make a decision, and I warn you: you may not put people into prison for someone’s speculation,” Furgal addressed the jury, as per RusNews.

Sergey Furgal won the 2018 gubernatorial election in the Khabarovsk region. He was detained in July 2020 and accused of setting up murders of businessmen. He stated numerous times that there was no evidence proving his guilt, and that the investigation was only based upon statements of one person. He was additionally charged with embezzlement and setting up a crime group in October 2021.

Mass rallies in support of Furgal took place in Khabarovsk in 2020 and 2021. The demonstrants, who were backed by people in other cities of Russia, demanded the case be investigated in Khabarovsk, and called on the acting regional and federal authorities to resign. Many activists were fined or arrested afterwards.