As it became known to Kommersant, punishments from 15 years in a strict regime colony to two life terms were requested by the state prosecution at the trial of members of the criminal community Aslan Gagiev (Dzhako), who committed contract killings and kidnappings. Among the defendants were three police officers, one of whom became a professional killer in the service of the law. The Prosecutor General’s Office demanded to recognize this circumstance as discrediting the honor of an employee of the internal affairs bodies, to demote the security forces, and at the same time deprive them of seven military orders and medals.
The trial of 12 defendants started in the 2nd Western District Military Court back in December 2018, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, the judge’s illness and many criminal episodes, the parties have only just begun to debate. Moreover, the state prosecution, presented by the Prosecutor General’s Office, acted behind closed doors, because of which Kommersant did not disclose the details of the hearings in the court itself. However, according to a Kommersant source in law enforcement agencies, the prosecutor’s office said that all the crimes previously charged by the defendant with the main investigative department of the ICR for the North Caucasus District, she considers proven during the trial. Only the criminal prosecution of one of the defendants under Part 3 of Art. 327 (forgery of documents) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and then due to circumstances that did not rehabilitate him – in connection with the expiration of the statute of limitations.
The most severe punishment, according to the interlocutor of Kommersant, during the debate was earned by the killer Inal Zaseev.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment for encroachments on the life (Article 317 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) committed back in 2008 of the heads of the department for combating organized crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of North Ossetia Mark Metsaev, the first department of the criminal investigation department of the republican ministry Vitaly Cheldiev and his son, which ended in their death, as well as for another 13 “ordinary” murders (Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In addition, it was established during the investigation and in court that Zaseev was involved in the attempt on the life of police lieutenant colonel Aslan Kachmazov, who was investigating the murders of his colleagues. The officer was badly wounded, but, fortunately, survived. By partial addition of life sentences, Zaseev was given a life sentence.
Should never get out of prison, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office, and the killer Ruslan Yurtov, who served in the criminal investigation department. It is believed that in 2011 it was he who shot Andrey Burlakov, the former owner of the German shipyards Wadan Yards, Andrey Burlakov, in the Khutorok restaurant on Leningradsky Prospekt in Moscow, and seriously wounded his companion Anna Etkina. Yurtov is also charged with the execution of Alexander Leonov, an investigator of the transport department of the ICR, in the capital on the order of a former employee of the prosecutor’s office, and other serious crimes. In total, Yurtov has 11 murders, or five less than that of the OPS record holder Zaseev.
“In connection with the commission of a crime by Yurtov while serving in the internal affairs bodies, which, of course, is a violation of the oath given to him, namely, an action discrediting the honor of an employee of the internal affairs body, I propose to deprive him of a special rank – junior lieutenant of the police, as well as the state awards – medals “For Courage”,” the prosecutor stated.
The ranks of lieutenant colonel and colonel of the police, at the request of the state prosecution, should also be deprived, respectively, of Viktor Pronin and Andrey Sankin, who served in the Bulat special rapid reaction unit of the internal troops of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. For participation in an organized crime community (Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), in a gang (Article 209 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), as well as for complicity in the murders and kidnappings committed by militants of Aslan Gagiev (Article 126 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), Pronin must serve 15 years and return State Order of “Courage” and the medal “For Courage”. According to the prosecution, his ex-colleague Sankin will be sentenced to 16 years by the court, taking away from him the Order of Courage, the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree, as well as the medals “For Courage” and “For Distinction in the Protection of Public Order” .
Another Bulat officer, Yevgeny Yashkin, was previously sent by the court for compulsory treatment. For the rest of the defendants, the prosecution in a military court requested from 15 to 21 years in a strict regime colony. Among them, for example, were Oleg Alymov and Goneri Dzhioev, who face 21 and 20 years of “strict punishment”, respectively. Veterans of the OPS, the Main Investigative Committee of the ICR established, took part in the most high-profile crimes that they are charged with. Their victims, according to investigators, back in 2004-2005 were the owners of the National Capital bank Dmitry Plytnik, Sodbiznesbank and Credittrast bank Alexander Slesarev, and Oleg Novoselsky, chairman of the board of Kutuzovsky bank. Mr. Slesarev, along with family members, was shot in the suburbs on the way to the temple. The bankers Plytnik and Novoselsky were kidnapped in Moscow, killed, and their bodies, cemented in barrels, were drowned in the Volga and the Moscow Canal, respectively.
It should be noted that, according to the Main Investigative Directorate of the ICR in the North Caucasus Federal District, one more security official took part in all three high-profile murders – Maxim Nikolaev, an employee of the operational search department of the capital’s police at that time, whom Zaseev, a member of the organized criminal group, later removed in 2010 in the Moscow region.
Now, according to Kommersant’s information, a break has been announced in the trial until May, after which the lawyers (they themselves refrain from commenting) and the defendants will start speaking. It is expected that they will need about a month, after which the judge will retire for sentencing.
According to Kommersant, before the debate of the parties, the court studied more than 300 volumes of the criminal case, which talk about 29 murders committed by militants and their accomplices from law enforcement agencies on order, in order to interfere with the investigation of previously committed crimes, as well as in the course of criminal showdowns.
At the same time, the defendants may once again be brought to trial, since the members of the organized criminal group are charged with 60 murders in total.
The case of Aslan Gagiev, who was extradited to Russia by Austria, has been considered by the Southern District Military Court since 2021. He is charged with organizing an organized criminal group, several gangs, as well as crimes committed by them, for which punishment is provided up to life in prison.