MOSCOW, October 24 (RAPSI) – The Chelyabinsk Regional Court has upheld a lower court’s detention order against the former vice-governor of the region Nikolay Sandakov sentenced to 5.5 years in a penal colony for taking 2 million rubles ($30,500) in bribes, the press-service of the court has told RAPSI.

On October 4, the Sovetsky District Court of Chelyabinsk issued the ruling changing a restraint measure against Sandakov from 10-million-ruble ($152,600) bail to detention.

The Chelyabinsk City Court is yet to receive appeals against the sentence itself delivered by the same court on October 5. Back then the former official was not only received a prison term but also was fined 7 million rubles ($106,800).

Earlier, Sandakov’s attorneys said that they seek to have the ruling overturned and their client to be pardoned, while prosecutors believe that the sentence was too soft.

According to the court’s ruling, from 2013 to 2014, the defendant facilitated the conclusion of a government contract on the guardianship of one of the region’s officials on conditions beneficial for the private security firm Python.

Sandakov received a bribe worth about 2 million rubles from the company’s CEO, the court ruling reads.