The Leninsky District Court of Perm sentenced Alexander Telepnev, a former deputy of the legislative assembly of the region, to four years in prison. He was found guilty of committing hooliganism with objects used as weapons. A year ago, in a bar, Alexander Telepnev began to throw dishes and furniture at the staff and visitors, as a result of which two people were injured. The state prosecution offered to sentence him to five years of strict regime, since Alexander Telepnev had already been convicted in 2018 for beating musician DJ Smash. The defendant partially admitted guilt and reconciled with the victims.
The criminal case against the former deputy, and now businessman Alexander Telepnev, was considered in court for several months, and was investigated for almost six. The events that formed the basis of the accusation took place on the night of April 30 last year in the Natasha bar, where Alexander Telepnev was relaxing with his friend.
“Using an insignificant reason” and “obviously violating public order and showing disrespect for society,” Alexander Telepnev committed a hooligan act – he threw a glass glass, an ice bucket and a bar stool at those present.
The dishes hit the bartender, and the chair hit the visitor, both victims were injured. The act of Alexander Telepnev was recorded by surveillance cameras on the territory of the bar.
The criminal case against the ex-deputy was initiated by the investigating authorities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Perm in the second half of May 2022. Alexander Telepnev was summoned for interrogation, after which he was detained in accordance with Art. 91 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, then the court extended this period for another 72 hours. Nevertheless, the court refused to satisfy the investigation’s request to place the ex-deputy in custody, choosing the prohibition of certain actions as a preventive measure.
Alexander Telepnev himself did not deny that he threw objects at visitors, but did not agree with the qualification of these actions under Part 2 of Art. 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (hooliganism). According to him, he was pissed off by the behavior of the staff of the institution, whose employees mixed up the accounts. The defendant claimed that his aggression was directed solely at the bartender.
His defender insisted on qualifying the actions of the principal under Part 2 of Art. 115 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (infliction of minor harm to health from hooligan motives). Alexander Telepnev also explained that he compensated the damage to the victims and reconciled with them. During the court session, the latter asked not to punish him severely.
In the debate, the senior assistant of the Leninsky district, Yevgeny Petukhov, proposed sentencing Alexander Telepnev to five years in a strict regime colony. The state prosecutor recalled that the defendant had committed a relapse: in 2018, he had already been convicted of two crimes against a person.
Recall that then Alexander Telepnev, together with his friend Sergei Vankevich, was prosecuted for attacking musician Andrei Shirman (DJ Smash) in the club “House of Culture”. Then their actions were qualified as causing harm to health of moderate severity out of hooligan motives. The former deputy received two years in a settlement colony, and then the world court added another two months to him for beating a 19-year-old Permian in the same club. In November 2019, Alexander Telepnev was released on parole without serving a year and 14 days before the end of his term.
As a result, Judge Marina Nasibulina delivered a verdict, which sentenced Alexander Telepnev to four years in prison to be served in a strict regime colony.
She also issued a private ruling against the three lawyers of Alexander Telepnev, as requested by the prosecution. According to the prosecutor’s office, the defense lawyers did not appear to participate in court sessions without good reason. The court asks the leadership of the bar associations of the Perm Territory and Moscow, as well as the departments of the Ministries of Justice for these regions, to pay attention to these facts in order to prevent further “inappropriate behavior”.
Lawyer Ildar Salakhiev believes that in this case the position of the victims does not matter for qualifying the actions of the defendant. “Judging by the operative part of the verdict, the court qualified them under Part 2 of Art. 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, that is, the intent of the defendant was aimed at a gross violation of public order using objects as weapons, and not at causing harm to the health of specific citizens. It should also be noted that the alleged actions were committed in a public place, in front of a large number of people.”