Former Sochi mayor Alexei Kopaigorodsky, his wife Yanina Kopaigorodskaya and her assistant Alexander Pasunko will be tried in Moscow. This decision was made because the former official could put pressure on the investigation due to his connections in the Krasnodar region. Kommersant reported this on Friday, December 12.
— The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has changed the territorial jurisdiction of the criminal case of former Sochi mayor Alexei Kopaygorodsky and his wife Yanina. The Prosecutor General's Office mentioned the fact that Alexey Kopaygorodsky, who held high-ranking positions in the Krasnodar region for a long time, still has connections with the regional authorities, law enforcement and judiciary, – it said in materials.
According to the watchdog, Kopaygorodsky's connections with regional authorities, law enforcement and judicial authorities could affect the impartiality of the court in Sochi. Therefore, the case was transferred to Moscow's Meshchansky District Court.
This former official was accused of embezzlement and accepting bribes of 248 million rubles from representatives of commercial companies. He was also charged with legalizing assets worth 26 million rubles. Investigators accused Kopaygorodsky's wife of complicity in her husband's crimes and her assistant of bribing witnesses and coercively denying testimony.
Kopaygorodsky was detained in a war zone in Ukraine in late September 2024. Security forces also captured his wife. She was taken to a pre-trial detention center. Recently it became known that she went on hunger strike. Details of the case of the former mayor of Sochi – in material “Moscow evening”.
