The Oktyabrsky District Court has ordered the deportation from Russia of British citizen Richard Philipp Bochius, an employee of Samara State University, who has been found guilty of illegal possession of narcotics.
"Indeed, a case was tried by the court on August 20. It was an administrative case, not a criminal one. He was found guilty of an offense enshrined by Part 2 of Article 6.8. of the Russian Code of Administrative Violations [illegal turnover of narcotic, psychotropic and potent substances by a foreign citizen or a stateless person]. He was given administrative punishment in the form of a fine in the amount of 4,000 rubles and administrative expulsion from Russia in the form of a controlled independent departure," a court official said on August 21.
The Briton, who is aged 42, was detained while buying 3.8 grams of hashish on August 19, the press service for the Interior Ministry's Main Department for the Samara region told Interfax.
Meanwhile, the university rector, Dmitry Bykov, told Interfax that he learnt of this situation from the news.
"I am on holiday so I myself learnt about this incident from the media. P.P. Bochius has been working for Samara State University for about a year and a half, and there have been no complaints about his work," Bykov said.
According to information obtained from public sources, Bochius is a citizen of the UK. He was head of the international cooperation department at Samara State University.
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