Russia: Two FSB Colonels Convicted for Forcing Catholic Priest to Pay Bribes

Last year, FSB officers forced the priest of the Church of St Louis of France on the Lubyanka in Moscow and other employees of the Catholic Church to pay nearly 20 million rubles (€200,000) for patronage in courts and state agencies, writes Rbc.ru (17 August). It is not known which cases involve the Catholic Church.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) is Russia's secret security agency. It is the main successor to the Soviet Union's KGB.

The defendants pleaded guilty. The two, Yevgeny Lobanov and Denis Karmanov, were sentenced to nine years in a maximum security penal colony, while the second was also convicted of illegal trade in arms and ammunition.

The sentence was handed down by the 235th Garrison Military Court in Moscow. Lobanov oversaw the FSB's fight against corruption within the Interior Ministry system.

Vicar-General Kirill Gorbunov of the Catholic Archdiocese Moscow, said that "we have learned everything from the media", adding: "We have no access to the criminal case, so it is difficult for us to comment on anything due to the lack of information".

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