Press Release, 02.04.2014

Today the Pervomaisky district court of Krasnodar have sentenced Professor of Kuban State University and director of the Southern Regional Resource Centre Mikhail Savva accused of fraud to three year on probation and a fine of 70 thousand roubles (approx. Euro 1431.25).

The district court has changed the restraint measure for Mikhail Savva from house arrest to travel restrictions until the sentence comes into effect.

The court charged Mikhail Savva with two cases of fraud: embezzlement of a regional administration’s grant amounting to 366,000 roubles (approx. Euro 8,306.4) and unlawful accepting the remuneration from Kuban State University amounting 71,000 roubles (approx. Euro 1453,29).

Professor Savva denies all the allegations. He noted that the sentence seemed strange to him. “Judge Popova ignored the witnesses’ statements given in court. Actually the sentence is a quote of the bill of indictment written by the investigators,” said the professor.

Mikhail Savva said that he was promised to be given the text of sentence on on April 7. “After this we will appeal against the sentence in the Krasnodar regional court within 10 days. Though I’m sure they play the same game as the district court. But we won’t stop and might appeal to the European court,” he said.

Mikhail Savva believes that the sentence on probation is actually an avowal of his innocence:”The substitution of non-guilty verdict with suspended sentence has become a usual practice within the last ten years in Russia”.

“Today’s outcome is important – at least I’m not in prison,” said the professor.

Mikhail Savva thanked YABLOKO for the support and in particular Sergei Mitrokhin who sent appeals on Savva’s case to different instances and came to one of the court hearings. Savva said that the apples which Sergei Mitrokhin brought to him suited the taste of his prison cell neighbors.

YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin expressed satisfaction in connection with the release of Mikhail Savva. “Numerous efforts of human rights advocates, civil activists and ours led to the change of the restraint measure for Mikhail Savva but we consider him innocent and the case is politically motivated,” he said.

In November 2013 YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin handed to Vladimir Putin an appeal from Mikahail Savva’s wife and said that the prosecution of Savva’s NGO which started after the law on foreign agents was adopted should be stopped.

On March 14 YABLOKO Chair sent a testimonial of Mikhail Savva where he told about the professor’s merits and his respectable activities to the Pervomaisky district court of Krasnodar.

FSB agents arrested Mikhail Savva in April 2013.