Hearing of criminal case against the former chairman of the Board of Vecherniy Bishkek Publishing House CJSC Alexander Ryabushkin and former director of publishing house Murat Bozhokoev completed in the Sverdlovsky District Court of Bishkek.

The defendants were found guilty, and a penalty of 220,000 soms was imposed on each of them. Alexander Ryabushkin was released in the courtroom.

The lawyer of the affected party — Vecherniy Bishkek shareholders Sergey Vorontsov — explained to 24.kg news agency that the defendants were not sentenced to prison term because of humanization of punishment. Under the new Criminal Code, the crime under the article «Abuse of powers by employees of commercial organization» does not provide for imprisonment, only fine. «As a result, they received the maximum penalty for category VI,» the lawyer said and added that the issue of appeal would be decided as soon as the verdict is received.

In 2016, the court collected 1 million soms from Vecherniy Bishkek in favor of the former security guard of Almazbek Atambayev Erkin Mambetaliev. He filed a lawsuit against the media, being offended by the publications.

According to the investigation, these actions of Ryabushkin and Bozhokoev caused significant material damage to shareholders of Vecherniy Bishkek.