Moscow court sentences ex-FSB officers for bribery involving Catholic Church officials
In a landmark ruling, the 235th Moscow Garrison Military Court has sentenced two ex-employees of FSB's Second Service, the unit responsible for Constitutional Order Protection, to nine years in a high-security penal colony for taking bribes from Roman Catholic Church representatives. According to Kommersant, Evgeny Lobanov and Denis Karmanov were found guilty of receiving bribes on a large scale (Article 290, Part 6).
Karmanov was also convicted under charges related to illegal arms and ammunition possession (Article 222, Part 1, of the Russian Criminal Code), discovered during a search. Additionally, both men were stripped of their colonel ranks and fined approximately 39,369,360 rubles (approximately $440,483) each—double the bribe amount.
Investigators revealed that in 2023, Lobanov and Karmanov exploited their official capacities to coerce Catholic Church representatives, including those from Moscow's St. Louis of France Church, into paying bribes for "protection in arbitration courts and government agencies." The total sum extracted from clergy members, in both rubles and foreign currencies, amounts to roughly 19,984,680 rubles.
"Kommersant" reports that the Moscow Arbitration Court database lists no fewer than ten cases involving the Catholic Church. However, it remains unclear which specific cases the convicted FSB officers provided or promised to provide assistance for.