Jailed ex-governor Sergey Furgal officially indicted on new charges including seven counts of fraud

Jailed former Khabarovsk Krai governor Sergey Furgal was indicted in two new criminal cases, his lawyer told RIA Novosti on Wednesday, November 24. 

Additional charges were brought against the ex-governor for organizing a criminal community (Criminal Code Article 210) and for seven counts of large-scale fraud (Criminal Code article 159, section 4). Furgal's lawyer explained that the latter are related to credit fraud.

Furgal’s son Anton wrote on Instagram on Wednesday that his father maintains his innocence. 

Sergey Furgal’s lawyer first mentioned the additional charges against his client at the end of October. Anton Furgal reported that the former managers of the Amurstal steel plant, which is co-owned by Sergey Furgal’s ex-wife, are also under investigation in the two new cases.

Sergey Furgal was jailed in July 2020, pending trial on charges of organizing multiple murders in the early 2000s. The then-governor’s arrest provoked a wave of protests in Khabarovsk that lasted for many months. The investigation into Furgal’s case has been completed and the former governor is set to undergo a jury trial in the Moscow region. Initially, the trial was supposed to take place in Khabarovsk, but prosecutors insisted on moving it, arguing that this would prevent the former governor from pressuring the jury.