In Krasnoyarsk, Anatoly Bykov, ex-deputy of the regional parliament and former head of the Krasnoyarsk aluminum plant (KrAZ), delivered the last word in court. The investigation charges him with inciting the murder of businessman Andrey Nekolov and the attempt on the vice-president of the regional boxing federation Andrey Grabovsky, and the prosecutor’s office requested 12 years in prison. The businessman declared his innocence and reproached the judge for not giving the opportunity to provide evidence refuting the version of the investigation. According to Anatoly Bykov, in search of truth and justice, he is ready to reach the UN. The announcement of the verdict is scheduled for May 12.
Former aluminum tycoon Anatoly Bykov pleaded not guilty as he delivered his last word in court. At the beginning of his emotional speech, the businessman called on the heads of law enforcement structures – the chairman of the TFR Alexander Bastrykin, the Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov and the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev – to create an interdepartmental commission that would try to understand the reasons for his criminal prosecution. “Send inspectors to the Krasnoyarsk Territory to sort out the violation of my constitutional rights, in all the cases fabricated against me. If the commission arrives and wants to meet, I will explain everything to them and call everyone by name. I know more than the FSB,” said the oligarch.
Anatoly Bykov, who repeatedly won elections to the regional legislature, sees political overtones in the criminal prosecution. He recalled that in April 2020, shortly before his arrest, the ban on the right to participate in elections was just expiring. Earlier, the so-called criminal filter was applied to Anatoly Bykov, according to which citizens convicted under serious articles of the Criminal Code cannot run for deputies earlier than 10-15 years after the conviction has been cancelled. In 2002, Anatoly Bykov received six and a half years probation for organizing an assassination attempt on the criminal leader of Krasnoyarsk Vilor Struganov (Pasha Tsvetomuzyka). “The leadership of the region considered that if they did not stop me, then in 2021 I would become a deputy of the State Duma, and in 2023 – the governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory,” the defendant said.
He reproached the judge for allegedly not giving the opportunity to interrogate defense witnesses, who, as the businessman believes, could confirm his innocence.
“It is very difficult to defend yourself when your rights are taken away right in court,” Bykov complained and added that he intended to defend his position in the Constitutional Court, and, if necessary, in the UN.
After listening to the speech of the businessman, which lasted for eight and a half minutes, the presiding judge Ivan Narozhny went to the deliberation room to write the verdict. He will announce his decision on May 12.
Anatoly Bykov is accused of hiring a hitman for $50,000 in 2004 to kill Andrei Nekolov, founder of a Krasnoyarsk industrial waste disposal company, and Andrei Grabovsky, vice president of the regional boxing federation. The first allegedly refused to conduct joint business with him, the second went over to the camp of his opponent – a crime boss nicknamed Diplomat.
Eliminate them, according to investigators, was Alexander Zhivitsa, who, as it turned out in the end, showed only 50 percent “efficiency” in the work. On November 1, 2004, from the window of a moving car, he fired an automatic burst at boxer Andrey Grabovsky’s BMW, but all the bullets missed. On January 18, 2005, the performer tracked down Andrey Nekolov and shot him with a TT pistol. The businessman died on the spot. As stated in the case, since one of the victims managed to escape, businessman Bykov cut the fee due to the killer to $10,000.
Since the episode with the assassination attempt on the vice-president of the regional boxing federation Andrey Grabovsky has expired, the prosecutor’s office asked to release Anatoly Bykov from punishment for this crime. For the murder of businessman Andrei Nekolov, the state prosecution demanded 12 years in prison for the oligarch. And taking into account the earlier verdict in the first case, which dealt with contract killings of two entrepreneurs Alexander Naumov and Kirill Voitenko, 18 years in a strict regime colony were requested for the former head of KrAZ.
In the debate of the parties, the defenders asked to remove all charges from their principal and acquit him. The lawyers consider the version of the investigation untenable.
Note that there is another criminal case against Anatoly Bykov, which has recently been submitted to the court. The ex-head of KrAZ is accused of organizing the murder in 1998 of crime boss Vladimir Filippov. The investigating authorities reported that the businessman allegedly needed reprisals against the authority in order to “support and increase his influence among the leaders and members of organized criminal groups.” These, as well as other accusations against him, Anatoly Bykov denies.
