MOSCOW, May 23 (RAPSI) – The Moscow City Court on Wednesday reduced a 3-year sentence given to Polytechengineering company’s Andrey Khatskevich for commercial bribery during reconstruction of the Polytechnic Museum, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

Khatskevich in his appeal sought to replace his prison sentence with noncustodial punishment. His lawyer asked the court to fine the defendant.

However, the court did not overturn the prison sentence but reduced it by 3 months.

Another defendant Aleksey Milovanov has initially received a 2-year suspended sentence, and he has not appealed the ruling.

According to investigators, in February 2015, Moscow’s Department of Cultural Heritage signed a contract with Polytechengineering. Under the agreement, the company obliged to supervise the construction work in progress in one of the museum’s halls. Later, unidentified persons from Polytechengineering management demanded 630,000 rubles ($10,300) from a financial director of another construction firm for verification of amount of work completed.

The defendants have pleaded guilty.