The experience of “looking” for Orenburg amounted to 28 years

An indictment has been approved in a criminal case against the alleged leader of an organized crime group from Orsk, Sergei Korchagin, and a resident of Orenburg, Vasily Savvon. Depending on the role and degree of participation in crimes, they are accused of occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy, murder, attempted murder and illegal acquisition, possession of firearms and ammunition. According to the security forces, Sergei Korchagin organized the murder of three criminal authorities, as well as the attempted murder of seven more people. Vasily Savvon, as part of an organized crime group, according to investigators, committed the murder and attempted murder of four people. The property of the accused was seized for a total amount of more than 12.5 million rubles. The criminal case will be sent to the Orenburg Regional Court.

The prosecutor’s office of the Orenburg region approved the indictment in a criminal case against the alleged leader of the organized criminal group from Orsk, Sergei Korchagin and Vasily Savvon. Depending on the role and degree of participation in crimes, they are charged with Art. 210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (occupation of the highest position in the criminal hierarchy), part 2 of Art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (murder), part 3 of Art. 30 and part 2 of Art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (attempted murder) and Part 1 of Art. 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illicit trafficking in weapons and ammunition). This is reported by the prosecutor’s office of the region.

According to the investigation, from 1993 to 2021, Sergei Korchagin occupied “the highest position in the criminal hierarchy, having the highest criminal status” in the Orenburg region. He “appointed ‘watchers’, including among convicts serving sentences in correctional facilities in the region,” law enforcers say.

According to the security forces, from April 2000 to July 2008, the alleged leader of the organized criminal group organized the murder of three crime bosses, as well as the attempted murder of seven more people.

This happened due to conflicts related to the division of spheres of influence in the criminal environment. So, in May 2000, according to the Investigative Committee of the ICR for the Orenburg region, Sergei Korchagin ordered the murder of a crime boss from Orsk, nicknamed Abkhazian (we are talking about Gennady Khvatlandzia). After that, the accused hired the alleged perpetrators of the crime from the Kazan organized crime group, who specialized in murders in Russia, the security forces found out. The killer killed the Abkhaz on May 19, 2000 with a pistol, the case says. This episode was imputed to Sergei Korchagin in August last year.

The offender was detained during a special operation at an airport near Moscow in December 2021. At the same time, the security forces detained two of his alleged accomplices in Orsk. They were charged with organizing the murders of crime bosses in the Orenburg region during the redistribution of “spheres of influence” in 2005-2008.

Investigators found that the alleged perpetrators with automatic weapons and explosive devices made three attempts on the victims. As a result, two people died and two were injured. These crimes remained unsolved for more than 15 years.

In particular, on the night of October 25, 2005, the killer shot about 20 times from a Kalashnikov assault rifle at two victims in Orsk, who were in a car. As a result, one of the men died, the second, who received six wounds, was saved by doctors. Another murder of a resident of Orsk was organized by the alleged leader of the organized crime group in June 2006. In the area of ​​the autodrome in the village of Myasokombinat, the perpetrators of the crime installed an explosive device and set it off at the moment the victim’s car was moving. However, the victim survived – the car was armored. In July 2008, a killer killed a resident of Orsk by firing a short-barreled firearm. The crime was committed on a flight of stairs at the entrance of the victim’s house.

The alleged leader of the organized crime group also “illegally acquired and stored firearms at his place of residence – the Scorpion submachine gun,” the investigation established.

The second defendant, Vasily Savvon, in the period from 2005 to 2006, as part of an organized group of Sergei Korchagin, “committed the murder and attempted murder of four people,” security officials believe.

The property of the accused was seized for a total amount of more than 12.5 million rubles. The criminal case will be sent to the Orenburg Regional Court.

Investigators have established that Sergei Korchagin (Korchaga) since 2008 has been “watching” the Orenburg region: he appointed members of the criminal community to informal positions in the criminal environment in Orsk, Novotroitsk, Gai, Buzuluk and correctional institutions of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Orenburg Region to monitor compliance with “thieves’ traditions ”, was responsible for the “common fund” and resolved disputes. Earlier, the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that the criminal community under his leadership oversaw the illegal circulation of weapons, drugs, was engaged in “extortion, “protection” of business, fraud in the financial and credit sphere and other types of criminal activity.”

The prosecutor’s office of the Orenburg region reports that in 2022, the activities of 28 organized groups and 2 criminal communities were liquidated in the region, 204 people were prosecuted. Last year, 17 criminal cases were considered against 62 persons who committed crimes as part of an organized criminal group. There are 19 such cases in the courts against 142 defendants.

Convicted for crimes in organized groups were sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 2 to 15 years. Two persons were given additional punishment in the form of restriction of freedom. Another 28 convicts were additionally fined in the amount of 25,000 to 800,000 rubles. In total, the amount of criminal proceeds from criminal cases investigated in 2022 exceeded 1 billion rubles, the prosecutor’s office clarifies.