The lawyer of the former governor of the Khabarovsk Territory, Sergei Furgal, Mikhail Karapetyan spoke about the ban on correspondence and calls to his client. He had not seen or heard from his relatives for more than two years. It is reported by "MK" with reference to the text of the appeal.
Karapetyan said that he repeatedly asked judge Gennady Tsoi to allow Furgal to make calls and visits with relatives, but his requests were rejected. Tsoi stated that calls and visits would be allowed "after the end of the trial." Furgal considers this psychological torture.
In early February, the Furgal case was submitted to the Lyubertsy City Court of the Moscow Region, despite the fact that the ex-governor and other defendants were against the transfer of the case from Khabarovsk due to the time difference between the Moscow Region and Primorye, where most of the witnesses in the case live.
The governor of the Khabarovsk Territory, Sergei Furgal, was detained in the summer of 2020. This led to mass protests in the region, which did not subside for several months. Furgal was charged with two contract killings and one attempted murder 17 years ago. The investigation into this case was suspended in 2005, but it was resumed a few months after Furgal defeated the United Russia candidate in the elections.
Furgal does not admit his guilt. The Insider found out that the alleged organizer of these crimes was not connected with Furgal, but with the leadership of the local FSB. In addition, The Insider found that the testimony of prosecution witnesses in the case file often contradicts each other, and the serious illness of the main one, Mistryukov, who began to testify against Furgal almost from the first interrogation, turned out to be fake. The media wrote that Mistryukov had cancer and lost his sight in the pre-trial detention center, which is why he began to give evidence necessary for the investigation in order to achieve a transfer to house arrest. However, medical documents seen by The Insider said that there were no diseases "preventing Mistryukov from being in custody."
One of the defendants in the Furgal case, Andrei Karepov, said that he was tortured during interrogations. According to Karepov, the security forces threatened to shoot him in the presence of lawyers and said that they were "acting on behalf of Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation."
Furgal was also charged with fraud committed by an organized group on an especially large scale (Article 159 of the Criminal Code) and the organization of a criminal community using his official position (Article 210 of the Criminal Code). Later, in November 2021, a case was initiated on the legalization (laundering) of property acquired by criminal means (174.1 of the Criminal Code). The defendants in the case combined into one proceeding are charged with damage in the amount of more than 3 billion rubles. Furgal is also charged with Art. 289 of the Criminal Code (illegal participation in business activities).
Amurstal, SME Bank, SME Corporation, Global Metcorp Ltd, which filed claims in the amount of more than 2.6 billion rubles, were recognized as victims and civil plaintiffs in the case.