MOSCOW. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The Moscow District Military Court has invalidated a sentence handed down earlier on Lt. Col. Valery Morozov, a former commander of the Strizhi aerobatic team, who had earlier been fined 775,000 rubles for attempted bribery.
The court ordered that the case be reconsidered by the first-instance court, an Interfax correspondent reported from the courthouse.
Morozov's defense attorney Alexander Vysotsky asked the court to invalidate his client's conviction and acquit him.
The prosecutor also asked the court to invalidate the sentence, referring to inconsistencies in the audio recording made while the sentence was handed down and its written version. The prosecutor stressed, however, that the sentence itself is lawful and the punishment is consistent with the offence committed by the defendant.
The Odintsovo Garrison Military Court had earlier found Morozov guilty of an attempt to take a bribe and sentenced him to a fine of 775,000 rubles. The court did not strip Morozov of his military rank of lieutenant-colonel in retirement but barred him from occupying administrative positions in the government service for two years.
The prosecutor had asked the court to fine Morozov 1.55 million rubles and strip him of his military rank.
The prosecution believes Morozov demanded in summer 2012 that an officer subordinate to him hand him part of his monetary allowance in exchange for fully freeing him from performing his service duties.
Morozov had been detained reportedly while accepting 31,000 rubles as a bribe on August 27, 2012. A law enforcement source said then that Morozov "had demanded 5,000 rubles from each of his seven subordinates undergoing discharge procedures in exchange for turning a blind eye to the fact that they would not appear at work before an order is issued on their discharge."
Morozov himself insisted on his innocence and claimed to be a victim of provocation.
The Main Military Investigations Department said Morozov "was receiving negligible money, 5,000 rubles a month, but he eventually received thousands of rubles in aggregate."
Morozov had been discharged from the armed forces on October 12, 2012 "due to failure to comply with contract terms."