Prosecution Seeks 10-Year Sentence, Huge Fine For Russian Regional Ex-Boss

Former Kirov regional Governor Nikita Belykh attends a court hearing in Moscow earlier this month.

The state prosecutor in the high-profile trial of the Kirov region's ex-governor, Nikita Belykh, who is charged with bribery, has asked the court to sentence him to 10 years in prison, Russian Prosecutor-General's Office spokesman Aleksandr Kurennoi said.

Prosecutor Marina Dyatlova also asked the Presnya District court in Moscow on January 24 to order Belykh to pay a 100-million-ruble ($1,770,000) fine, Kurennoi said in a video recording.

Russian investigators detained Belykh in June 2016, saying they had caught him accepting a bribe of 400,000 euros ($490,600) at a restaurant in the capital.

Belykh has pleaded not guilty during the trial, which started on September 5, calling the case against him "a police provocation."

Once a leader of a liberal opposition party, the Union of Right Forces, Belykh was one of the few provincial governors not to be closely allied with President Vladimir Putin.

Putin dismissed him from his post after his arrest.

With reporting by Dozhd and Interfax