The defense of the former commander of the 58th Army, Major General Ivan Popov, sentenced to five years in prison for fraud and forgery, appealed the verdict, said lawyer Sergei Buinovsky.
"An appeal against the verdict has been filed with the court," he told TASS.
The defense called the verdict unfair and called for an acquittal.
As reported, on April 24, the Tambov Garrison Military Court sentenced Ivan Popov to 5 years in a general regime colony as punishment, and also deprived him of his military rank. The court also deprived the general of the right to hold organizational and economic positions for a period of two years, and imposed a fine of 800 thousand rubles as an additional punishment.
One of the most popular military bloggers in Russia, Yuri Podolyaka (more than 3.1 million subscribers), called the sentence of Major General Popov a disgrace. He called the court a trial and petty revenge, which will entail serious risks for Russia.
Popov was arrested on May 17, 2024. He is accused of involvement in the theft in 2023 of more than 1,700 tons of metal structures for engineering fortifications at the front, worth over 130 million rubles. Popov repeatedly asked to be sent to the SMO zone, the defense wrote appropriate petitions, but in the end, the ex-commander of the 58th army was denied this.