MOSCOW, January 30 (RAPSI) – The Supreme Court of Russia on Wednesday mitigated sentence for three residents of Chelyabinsk Region for a string of murders committed more than 15 years ago, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.

The court finally gave Igor Urvachev 19 years in high security prison. Sergey Baranov and Alexander Batalov received 19.5 and 20.5 years in high security prison respectively.

In 2008, a court in the Chelyabinsk Region sentenced them to prison terms ranging from 20 to 23 years.

The court found that the crimes were committed by gang members between 2002 and 2003. According to the regional court, Batalov decided to kill a witness in a criminal case over beating and murder threat opened against his brother. He and his accomplices killed the victim in a forest.

Moreover, in 2003, they murdered a witness in a case on assault related to robbery.

Batalov, Urvachev and Baranov were found guilty of two counts of murder, incitement to kill, illegal purchase, bearing and storage of firearms and their parts and illegal manufacture of weapon.