MOSCOW, March 18 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) – The Moscow City Court on Friday sentenced retired colonel of Russian General Staff Alexander Banov to 16 years in a penal colony for ordering the murder of an entrepreneur, RAPSI correspondent reports from the courtroom.

Banov was also ordered to pay 4.6 million rubles ($65,700) in moral damages to the suffering parties. His accomplice, Azamat Aliev, born in Uzbekistan, was sentenced to 19 years in a penal colony and was ordered to pay 73,700 rubles ($1,052) in moral damages.

Both men were found guilty by a jury trial on Friday.

According to investigators, Banov hired a group of self-employed taxi drivers to murder the co-founder of the Moscow firm “Milking”, Olga Medvedeva. She was killed in June 2010. Lawyers representing the retired colonel claim that Banov is not connected to the murder and is a victim of conspiracy.

Aliev is connected to a criminal group consisting of Uzbekistan natives who were robbing women under the guise of taxi drivers. Some of the gang’s members have been  sentenced to long prison terms or life imprisonment.