Ex-head of Russian prisons sentenced to 8 years for fraud

MOSCOW – The former head of Russia’s penitentiary system has been sentenced to eight years in prison for defrauding the state.

Tass, the state news agency, says that Alexander Reimer was convicted Wednesday of taking part in selling electronic monitoring bracelets to the prison service at inflated prices. It found the embezzlement in 2010-12 totalled 1.3 billion rubles (about $40 million at the time).

Two other high-ranking prison officials were also found guilty in the case and sentenced to terms of up to six years,