MOSCOW, December 8 (RAPSI, Yevgeniya Sokolova) – The prosecutor in the case of Lieutenant General Denis Sugrobov, the former head of the Interior Ministry's Economic Security and Anti-corruption Department who stands charged with organizing a criminal group, asked to sentence him to 22 years in high-security prison, RAPSI learnt in the Moscow City Court on Thursday.

A lawyer representing another defendant in the case told RAPSI that the prosecutor asked the court to sentence other officers on trial to 17–21 years of close confinement.

According to the lawyer, prosecutors asked the court to unfreeze the assets owned by the defendants, which had been earlier sized by a lower court, as they failed to establish corruption as a driving motive behind the actions of the accused.

This Monday the court started to hear the pleadings of the parties in camera.

According to investigators, Sugrobov and his deputy Boris Kolesnikov tried to provoke a Federal Security Service (FSB) officer by offering him $10,000 a month for his protection. Sugrobov was charged with organizing a criminal group, abuse of power and bribery last May.

Kolesnikov was arrested in February 2014. In June, he jumped out of a window during questioning at the Investigative Committee. Later the Basmanny District Court said no evidence was found of assisted suicide.

Sugrobov, 39, is one of the youngest police generals. Kolesnikov was 36 when he was promoted to general.

Altogether, 10 defendants are involved in this case with case materials making 400 volumes. Thirty persons are recognized as aggrieved parties, thirteen of whom seek to recover in total 218 million rubles (about $3.5 million) from the defendants.