The bribe was not allowed to be redeemed with blood

The former vice-mayor of Voronezh received eight years in a strict regime colony

The court sent the once youngest vice-mayor of Voronezh, Alexei Antilikatorov, who worked in the administration in 2014-2019, to a strict regime colony. The ex-official, who was the “understudy” of the previous governor of the region Alexei Gordeev in the youth government, was found guilty of bribery. He received 1.5 million rubles. for the preservation of two fairs organized with violations of the rules.

The defense considers the sentence excessively harsh and intends to appeal it. The judge of the Central District Court of Voronezh, Larisa Morkhova, sentenced 32-year-old Alexei Antilikatorov to eight years in a strict regime colony for taking a bribe on an especially large scale (part 6 of article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). He was fined 1.5 million rubles and banned from holding positions in public authorities for eight years. The court foreclosed on the 2.9 million rubles seized from the ex-official during searches. Part of this amount will be used to pay a fine, and part will be confiscated as a bribe received.

The former official was taken into custody in the courtroom after a three-hour verdict was announced.

“I’m about to be torn to hell, let me go to the toilet,”— threw the defendant to journalists who asked to comment on the verdict.

Leaving the courtroom accompanied by an escort, Aleksey Antilikatorov did not return to the lawyers, his wife and journalists who were waiting for him. The bailiffs only brought back his phone and watch.

The regional department of the Investigative Committee of Russia initiated a criminal case against the former vice-mayor on the basis of materials from the FSB in March 2020. As established by the investigation and the court, in 2018, Alexei Antilikatorov received 1.5 million rubles from businessman Shamil Bitokov through First Vice Mayor Sergei Kurilo. for the preservation of fairs on Patriot Avenue, which were threatened with demolition.

In Shamil Bitokov’s statement to the regional investigation department, he asked that Sergey Kurilo be held accountable; it was Kurilo who gave 1.5 million rubles. And the money was intended not only for Antilikatorov, but also for his successor as vice-mayor, Lyudmila Borodina. Borodina is known as the niece of the former regional prosecutor, and now Deputy Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Shishkin. At the time of the alleged crime, the current vice-mayor of Borodina was the head of the enterprise development department.
As Shamil Bitokov explained, Sergei Kurilo claimed that all 1.5 million rubles were required for Antilikatorov. He did not mention Borodin. “Kurilo wrote the required amount to me on paper in his office in the administration,” said businessman Bitokov. – He explained to me that the amicable agreement would be on the terms of the city in order to preserve the honor of the uniform due to the fact that we went to court. The lawyer told me that the agreement was on unfavorable terms for the fair and that if the mayor’s office balks, we have nowhere to go. I called Kurilo, he said: “You sign, we know.”
After the businessman gave the official money, a settlement agreement was concluded, but the administration still did not agree on a new layout of the fairs. At the moment, Bitokov’s facilities worth 35 million rubles are being dismantled. And before writing a statement to the investigative committee, Bitokov asked Kurilo to return the money.

In addition, the defendant explained the motive for his actions in helping Kurilo. Firstly, he wanted to help a colleague with whom he was then in “working-friendly relations”, and secondly, to fulfill the administration’s unspoken policy of peacefully resolving the issue with entrepreneurs.
Another former vice-mayor emphasized that his goal was to deceive Kurilo and the businessman: allegedly he could not influence the decision on the fair. Antilikatorov assured the judge that he could not change the map-scheme of the fair, for which the merchant paid him, since such an issue is decided by the interdepartmental commission under the regional government with the participation of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the police and other departments.
Moreover, according to the defendant, the businessman’s idea to change the map-scheme of the fair with an increase in the number of trading places was doomed to failure from the very beginning. Still approved in 2016, the scheme according to the conclusion of the Ministry of Emergency Situations did not meet fire requirements, and the territory is located on heat and water supply networks, which is unacceptable. These factors, according to the former official, nullified his hypothetical efforts to resolve the issue of the object.
Kurilo resigned from City Hall on June 1, 2018. He was deputy chairman of the project management committee under the mayor of the city. Deputies of the Voronezh City Duma approved Sergei Kurilo in office in 2013, and he began his career path in the administration in 2002.

Last year, the fairs were nevertheless dismantled due to non-fulfillment of the terms of the contract with the authorities. Sergei Kurilo was released from criminal liability. During the investigation of the criminal case, Aleksey Antilikatorov spent a year under house arrest, which was counted as part of the sentence. Immediately after the arrest, Aleksey Antilikatorov partially admitted his guilt.

Both at the stage of the investigation of the case and at the beginning of the trial, he claimed that he had received only 750 thousand rubles from his colleague.

Judging by the final version of Antilikatorov, which he expressed on February 4, “in the early spring of 2018, Kurilo, with my consent, took 1.5 million rubles from the entrepreneur for resolving the issue of concluding settlement agreements with fairs controlled by the businessman. Kurilo, as an intermediary, received 750 thousand from my knowledge and in the city administration building he handed over to me 750 thousand, which were intended for me.
Thus, Alexei Antilikatorov changed his shoes again. Literally on December 18, he claimed in the Central District Court that he received the money from Sergey Kurilo not at the city hall, but at the house on Dachny Poselok Street in Voronezh in early June 2018, and not in April, as follows from the indictment.
But most importantly, Antilikatorov showed a video that he allegedly made for his wife visiting Kurilo after receiving the money. In a short video, the defendant shows the situation at his colleague’s house, introducing himself as an employee of the Navalny Foundation, recognized as an extremist organization in the Russian Federation, and says: “We are against corruption! Sergey Grigoryevich, tell me, please, how did you earn money for the salary of the first vice-mayor (at home. – ed.)”. “Pizdit, and everything is fine!” – is heard in response.
And here it is worth recalling that the sources of Four Feathers in law enforcement agencies at the very beginning of the criminal prosecution of Antilikatorov in March 2020 claimed that the transfer of money was carried out in the city hall building on Plekhanovskaya.

The former official believed that his actions should be qualified as fraud. He claimed that he deceived the entrepreneur, promising him to influence the decision to preserve the fairs, although he could not do this.

In the debate, Aleksey Antilikatorov changed his position and fully pleaded guilty to a particularly large bribe. Judge Larisa Morkhova was critical of the initial testimony, establishing the correctness of the qualification of the actions by the investigation. In the verdict, she indicated that the bribe is considered completed from the moment the official receives at least part of the illegal reward. In imposing punishment, the judge took into account a number of circumstances: the presence of two young children, volunteer and charitable activities, and positive references from high-ranking officials. However, the court did not find any exceptional circumstances significantly mitigating the degree of public danger of the crime. The court found that the deed of the convict was directed against the normal work of the apparatus of public power, which was in the interests of society.

Before sentencing, Aleksey Antilikatorov criticized the position of the prosecution, who proposed sending him to a colony for nine years.

“The state is ready to feed and protect me for so many years, spending money. I would rather work and be useful.”said the former official.

He noted that he could have escaped more than once, as the FSIN officers forgot to put a bracelet on him after being placed under house arrest.

“It would be better if the state used me in a different way. As in the Great Patriotic War, I would have redeemed with blood… Today, when a special military operation is being carried out in Ukraine, I could be useful there. I am sincerely ready to do so,– Antilikatorov said in court.

The lawyer of the convict, Dmitry Rezvykh, in a conversation with the editors, called the sentence excessively harsh and promised to appeal it.