Court sentences soldier Andrei Popov to 2 years of imprisonment in settlement-colony

The Saratov Garrison Military Court found the soldier Andrei Popov, who earlier claimed that he had been kept in slavery in Dagestan, guilty of desertion and sentenced him to 2 years of imprisonment in a settlement-colony.

"The Court took into account mitigating circumstances: frank confession, acknowledgement of guilt, and state of Andrei Popov's health, and sentenced him to 2 years of imprisonment in the settlement-colony," the "Interfax" quotes Judge Igor Surovtsev, who chaired the trial, as saying.

"I was hoping for such a verdict," said Andrei Popov after the pronouncement of the verdict.

Andrei Bessonov, the lawyer of Andrei Popov, has also stated that he was satisfied with the verdict. "We thought that it would be worse. 4 years of imprisonment in a common security colony, requested by the public prosecution and 2 years of imprisonment in a settlement-colony, pronounced by the Court, mean a big difference. Popov has a very big chance for conditional early relief," said the lawyer.

Representatives of the public prosecution did not comment on the Court's decision, RIA "Novosti" reports.