Former defense minister Serdyukov pardoned

The criminal case against former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, who was charged with negligence, has been closed. Serdyukov has been amnestied.

The decision on Serdyukov's amnesty was reportedly taken on February 21. The information saying that Serdyukov asked for amnesty appeared on February 25, although the message was not officially confirmed.

Anatoly Serdyukov was dismissed from the post of in the autumn of 2012. In December 2013, he became a defendant on the case of negligence. He was charged on the case of Zhitnoye recreation complex that belonged to his son-in-law, Valery Puzikov. In September 2013, Puzikov donated the complex to the Ministry of Defense. In January 2014, Serdyukov's son-in-law became involved in a criminal case after he was suspected of committing crimes under articles "large-scale fraud" and "embezzlement." In February, Puzikov was declared wanted. On March 5th, it was said that he voluntarily surrendered to investigators and was released on bail.

After Serdyukov's dismissal from the post of the defense minister, investigating authorities filed a large number of corruption cases in the military, the largest of which was the case of embezzlement of several billions of rubles through " Oboronservis organization. The key defendant on the case was former employee of the Ministry of Defense, Yevgenia Vasilyeva. She currently remains under house arrest.