The Tambov military court decided to return Popov at his request to the combat zone in Ukraine, his lawyer Sergey Buynovsky told TASS.
On March 21, Popov, who is in pre-trial detention, appealed to Vladimir Putin and complained that he no longer understands what is happening around him, so he asks to be sent to the front in "this difficult time for Russia, when war is on the doorstep, when the special military operation is in full swing."
General Ivan Popov was arrested on May 21 last year on charges of bribery on a particularly large scale. According to the investigation, he is involved in the embezzlement of 1.7 thousand tons of metal products purchased by the military-civil administration of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region for defensive structures. At the same time, the investigation reported that Popov "gave incriminating testimony against other participants in the embezzlement case." The court sent him to pre-trial detention, but in July the measure of restraint was changed to house arrest.
However, on March 1, the Tambov military garrison court changed the measure of restraint from house arrest to detention in a pre-trial detention center. The judge granted the military prosecutor's request and sent Popov to a detention center in the Tambov region. The military prosecutor's office insisted on tightening the measure of restraint due to the general's violations of the conditions of house arrest. Popov also refused to undergo a medical examination when he was stopped by traffic police on the way from Tambov to Moscow.
Photo: RIA Novosti