The Irkutsk security forces reported on the court punishment for members of the so-called Filimonov gang, accused of kidnapping eight people for subsequent extortion of money from them. As a result, six members of the group received terms of imprisonment ranging from 9 years 6 months to 15 years 6 months. Most of the convicts pleaded guilty to these crimes, disagreeing only with one, the most serious article. 209 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (creation of a gang and participation in it). A curious, but not advertised, nuance is the fact that all the victims of their actions were not chosen randomly. The victims were united, according to the convicts, by belonging to the distribution of drugs.
The Irkutsk Regional Court, with the participation of jurors, pronounced a verdict against six local residents. According to the press service of the regional prosecutor’s office, depending on the role and degree of participation, they were found guilty of committing crimes under Parts 1-2 of Art. 209 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (creation, leadership and participation in a gang), parts 2–3 of Art. 126 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (kidnapping), Art. 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (extortion), Art. 162 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (robbery), Art. 222-223 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illegal circulation, manufacture and alteration of firearms).
“The court found that in 2019 one of the defendants created a gang, which involved six of his friends and one girl. From January to June 2019, gang members, including under the guise of law enforcement officers, took victims to deserted places and extorted large sums of money from them, beating them and threatening them with weapons. Fearing reprisals, the victims gave them money and their cars. Eight people suffered from the actions of the criminals,” the ministry said in a statement.
The activity of the group was suppressed by officers of the Federal Security Service and the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Irkutsk Region, the criminal case was investigated by investigators of the regional department of the TFR.
A Kommersant source in law enforcement said that the leader of the gang was a local resident, Roman Filimonov.
“In May 2019, the bandits, while in the Yubileiny microdistrict of the city of Irkutsk, blocked a Toyota Corolla car. One of the convicts, threatening the driver with a gun, shot into the air and put the victim into his car. The bandits beat the owner of the car for about a day, demanding 2 million rubles for his release. After the relatives of the victim transferred part of the money to the attackers, promising to transfer the rest later, the man was released, ”the press service of the FSB gives an example of one of the episodes.
“In March 2019, in the Leninsky district of Irkutsk, the defendants abducted a man, and then took him to a wasteland in the Berezovy microdistrict. Young people hit him on the body with a wooden object and shot him with a traumatic weapon. The victim managed to escape from the attackers and escape,” added the press service of the regional department of the TFR.
Proved damage amounted to 1.4 million rubles. The materials of the criminal case consisted of 62 volumes, more than 200 people were interrogated during the investigation.
Several pistols and shotguns were confiscated from members of the group during the detention. The case has been pending before the court since October 2021.
During the consideration of the case, the members of the group, with the exception of its leader, pleaded guilty to the charges against them. At the same time, everyone, without exception, did not agree with the involvement in the commission of a crime under Art. 209 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (creation of a gang and participation in it).
By a court decision, the group leader was sentenced to 15 years and 6 months in prison, the rest of the participants were sentenced to terms ranging from 9 years 6 months to 13 years. The verdict has not entered into force. For two members of the group who made a deal with the investigation and concluded a pre-trial agreement, the criminal cases were separated into separate proceedings and considered by the court in August 2022. They received 7 years and 6 months and 8 years in prison.
During the sentencing, the defendants behaved quite calmly, only at the end of the announcement one of them said: “This is not a trial, but a gangster showdown.”
Noteworthy in this regard is the fact that law enforcement agencies do not advertise. According to the convicts, the victims of kidnappings and extortions are related to the drug trade, they were chosen precisely according to this criterion.
One of the defendants’ lawyers, Olga Belyaeva, told Kommersant that the verdict would definitely be appealed to a higher authority. “There are enough inconsistencies in the case. There are questions about the quality of the investigation,” she said, without going into details.
It is also curious that in less than two years in Irkutsk this is the second trial against self-proclaimed fighters against drug crime. Earlier, in November 2021, the so-called Aliyev gang was sentenced. Seven of its participants were also accused of kidnapping and extortion and received sentences from 4 years and 6 months to 13 years in prison.
