The Prosecutor’s office demanded to sentence the ex-mayor of Sochi to 21 years in prison

The Prosecutor’s office demanded to sentence to 21 years in a strict regime colony of former mayor of Sochi Alexei Kopaygorodsky in the case of receiving bribes in the amount of more than 300 million rubles, as well as other crimes. In addition, the prosecutor demanded to fine him 500 million rubles, ban him from holding senior positions in the authorities for 15 years and confiscate 319.7 million rubles from the former mayor - the equivalent of bribes received, deprive him of the medal of the Order of Merit to the Fatherland of the II degree.

According to the correspondent of Kommersant, the wife of the former official Yanina Kopaygorodskaya for aiding in embezzlement, taking bribes, as well as other crimes, state prosecutor Mikhail Reznichenko demanded to convict a general regime colony for 16 years, imposing a fine of 500 million rubles. The third defendant Alexander Pasunko, accused of exerting pressure on a witness, the prosecutor proposed to impose a fine of 200 thousand rubles.

The Prosecutor also asked to satisfy the claim of the mayor of Sochi to the convicts.

Alexey Kopaygorodsky is accused of receiving bribes in an especially large amount, legalization of criminal proceeds and embezzlement (part 6 of article 290, part 4 of article 174.1 and part 4 of article 160 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). He is charged with seven criminal episodes. In particular, according to the investigation, bribes to the mayor were given by large businessmen and developers, fearing in case of refusal of negative consequences for their business activities.

Thus, the investigation established that in 2022, the founder of the construction company Neometriya Boris Yunanov first transferred to the mayor 35 million rubles. for the purchase of a house and land in Sochi and "for creating favorable conditions for business development" for his company LLC "Elias Group", and then agreed to pay monthly tribute to Alexei Kopaygorodsky in the amount of 2.5 million rubles. and gave him a total of 56.5 million rubles. In turn, Nikolai Shihidi, head of SZ IC Eurostroy LLC, in 2022-2023 transferred 90 million rubles as bribes to the mayor of Sochi, the case materials say. During the process, which began in March 2026, Kopaygorod guilt was not recognized, Pasunko admitted partially.

In January 2026, the Khostinsky court of Sochi on the anti-corruption suit of the Prosecutor General’s Office turned into the state property of the Kopaigorod couple in the amount of more than 1.6 billion rubles.

More information about the case of the former mayor of Sochi Alexei Kopaygorodsky “Kommersant” wrote in the material “Bribes in especially resort sizes”.

Maria Lokotecka