The state prosecution asked the court to appoint 14 years in prison to the former vice-mayor of Yekaterinburg, Viktor Konteev, who is accused of attempted murder and extortion. Given the earlier conviction for bribes, extortion and incitement to murder, the ex-official can spend another 23 years in prison. The defense believes that the investigators have no evidence of Viktor Konteev’s guilt, and a criminal case was needed so that he could not be released on parole.
The debate on the criminal case of Viktor Konteev was held in the Sysert District Court (Sverdlovsk Region) on Wednesday, June 14. During his speech, the state prosecutor asked to sentence the former vice-mayor to 14 years in prison and fined 700 thousand rubles. Together with the punishment imposed on the ex-official in his first case in 2014, the total term of imprisonment, according to the prosecutor, should be 23 years.
Since 2014, Viktor Konteev has been serving an 18-year sentence in a strict regime colony for taking bribes, extortion and incitement to murder. In 2021, he faced new charges related to attempted murder and extortion.
The investigation believes that from March 2009 to May 2010, the former official and members of the organized criminal group he created extorted from businessman Maxim Krasnov a 25% stake in Ural LLC (Kurgan Region) worth 3.6 million rubles.
It was located in the city of Petukhovo, located on the border with Kazakhstan, and was engaged in customs clearance of trucks with fruits from the Central Asian republics, which were then sent to Yekaterinburg to the largest vegetable warehouse No. 4 in the region. After the refusal of Maxim Krasnov, investigators believe that they decided to kill the businessman, but they could not bring the intent to the end.
Earlier, Kommersant reported that Oleg Sukhochev (Sukhach) had already been sentenced to 22 years in a strict regime colony on similar charges in 2015, and Viktor Kalin (Dzhigit) was sentenced to 12 years in 2020. The investigation believes that they acted on the instructions of Viktor Konteev, although both denied this in court. The victim Maxim Krasnov also stated at the trial that the former official had nothing to do with his case. He associated the attack with a conflict with Viktor Kalin.
Viktor Konteev is charged with extortion (clause “b” part 3 of article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), attempted murder (part 3 of article 30, paragraph “g”, paragraph “h” of part 2 of article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ), fraud (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and money laundering (part 3 of article 174.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). However, according to lawyer Sergei Kolosovsky, he will not be sentenced under the last two articles due to the statute of limitations. He noted that the state prosecution agreed with this.
Viktor Konteev pleads not guilty to any of the charges. According to the defense of the ex-official, the criminal case itself and the “hard punishment” requested by the prosecutor are connected with an attempt to make sure that he “never goes free.”
Sergei Kolosovsky noted that his client was seriously ill and could expect to leave the colony on parole. However, given the new case, if the court finds him guilty, he will not be able to do this.
“Konteev has been under investigation since 2011, but until 2020 he was never interrogated in this case. No investigative measures were carried out with him, although there were opportunities for this, and other defendants in the case had already been imprisoned during this time. But then, when his term of imprisonment approached parole, they suddenly decided to bring him to justice, ”the lawyer emphasized.
According to Sergei Kolosovsky, the investigation does not have “a single piece of evidence” of the guilt of the former vice-mayor in this case. He explained that there was no need to extort a share in Ural LLC from Maxim Krasnov, since it belongs to the latter’s brother Andrei Krasnov. Sergei Kolosovsky noted that Andrei Krasnov’s share in the business could be stolen only if, under the influence of deceit, he wrote a statement about leaving the company and handed over his property. However, at that time he was able to easily restore corporate control over his stake in Ural LLC.
In addition, the defense casts doubt on the arguments that there was an assassination attempt on Maxim Krasnov. “The investigation claims that eight people in two cars with three pistols came to commit the murder. As a result, the gun was lost, the car was smashed, and they themselves barely took their legs. Why didn’t they shoot him, didn’t stab him, and arranged a fight? Kolosovsky says.
The defense will appear in the debate on Thursday, June 15. Then Victor Konteev can make the last word.
