Dubrovina: court verdict in Savva's case disregards his custody period

The verdict announced on April 2 by the Pervomaiskiy District Court of Krasnodar to Professor Mikhail Savva, appointing three years of conditional imprisonment failed to take into account the time spent by him in custody and under home arrest – the court just missed the point, said the lawyer Marina Dubrovina, Mikhail Savva's advocate.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 2 the above Court of Krasnodar sentenced Mikhail Savva, a Professor at the Kuban State University and director of grant programmes of the Southern Regional Resource Centre, to 3 years of conditional imprisonment with a probation period of 2 years, and to a fine of 70,000 roubles. Mr Savva was released under recognizance not to leave until the sentence comes into force.

In Professor Savva's opinion, his conditional, not real imprisonment was solely the result of the massive public support.

His defence is already preparing materials for lodging an appeal against the verdict of the first instance court.