A special services officer convicted of organizing the kidnapping of Russian software tycoon Yevgeny Kaspersky’s son was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison on Thursday, the RAPSI news agency reported.
Twenty-year-old Ivan Kaspersky was abducted last April while on his way to work. He was freed five days later as a result of a raid in the Moscow Region involving riot police and Federal Security Service officers. Five suspects, who demanded a ransom of 3 million euro ($4.3 million), were detained.
Special services officer Capt. Alexei Ustimchuk, accused of organizing the kidnapping, was tried separately from other suspects in the case.
Ustimchuk was found guilty of abduction and extortion and sentenced to 4.5 years in prison. The prosecution requested a five-year prison sentence for him, below the minimum punishment for charges pressed against him.
Prosecutors said Ustimchuk admitted his guilt in full and cooperated with investigators.
He has already spent 1.5 years in prison and will be eligible for parole in another 1.5 years.
Yevgeny Kaspersky filed a 120-million-ruble ($3.7 million) moral compensation lawsuit against the suspected kidnappers of his son.
Neither Kaspersky nor his son appeared in court.
