Russia’s Supreme Court has upheld the life sentence for former representative of Bashkiria in the upper chamber of the parliament Igor Izmestiyev, who is convicted for terrorism, contract killings, and other crimes.

Izmestiyev’s lawyers appealed against the sentence by the court of Moscow City, and asked the Supreme Court to drop the case against their defendant, because of his “non-involvement in the crimes”, which he is being accused of. But the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal.   

Former member of the parliament denies any wrongdoing and wants the reinvestigation of the crimes.

“I have absolutely no motive for the crimes I am convicted for. Everyone knows who benefited from these crimes. It is Ural Rakhimov, son of former president of Bashkiria,” Izmestiyev said before the court.

Russian human rights activists, including leader of For Human Rights group Lev Ponomarev, publicly supported Izmestiyev. This resulted in other convicts having their sentence cut, although not considerably.

The Supreme Court has also ruled that Izmentiyev’s indictment was illegal on 2 counts, but it upheld his life sentence.

“We will appeal against this insane decision. We will go to the Court of Human Rights. They have cut sentence to the butchers who cooperated with investigation. They freed Izmestiyev of two crimes, but confirmed his sentence,” the lawyer said.