MOSCOW, July 18 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) – Mikhail Yurevich, former governor of the Chelyabinsk Region, who stands charged with taking 26 million rubles (about $440,000 at the current exchange rate) in bribes, filed an appeal against his arrest in absentia with Russia’s Supreme Court, according to the statement published on the court’s website on Tuesday.

The hearing date has not been scheduled yet.

On May 12, a district court in Yekaterinburg dismissed investigators’ motion to arrest Yurevich in absentia. The ruling was appealed by prosecutors. Later, the Sverdlovsk Regional Court overturned the lower court’s decision and issued an arrest warrant for Yurevich.

Investigators claim that Yurevich received bribes regularly. Their amount was estimated at 26 million rubles.

Moreover, he allegedly instigated Oleg Grachev, who had been appointed to the position of the First Deputy Governor of the region, to spread libel about ex-chairman of the Chelyabinsk Regional Court Fyodor Vyatkin.