In 2018, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia (*aggressor country) Alexander Bastrykin assigned employees of the Domodedovo investigation department an extraordinary certification. This happened after a complaint from a lawyer Dmitry Egorov. Today Egorov himself found himself behind bars. He represented the interests of a participant in, perhaps, even a domestic conflict. However, at one point, the previously convicted defendant and the victims in the case suddenly announced that the organizer of the crime was a lawyer. The legal community turned to Alexander Bastrykin and Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov with a request to look into the high-profile case and take control of it.
Today, the legal community is concerned about the trend of lawyers being held criminally liable for their professional activities. There was a wave of news in the media that lawyers were collectively filing complaints with the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia (*aggressor country), Alexander Bastrykin, regarding illegal criminal prosecution, including lawyers in the Astrakhan region regarding their colleague Elena Loseva – the woman became the first lawyer in the country who was accused of disclosing tax secrets. Lawyers call the criminal case against Loseva a criminal attack on the defense attorney in connection with his activities.
Lawyers from both Moscow and the Moscow region approached Alexander Bastrykin with a complaint about illegal criminal prosecution in another criminal case against their colleague Dmitry Egorov.
In 2018, lawyer Dmitry Egorov appealed to Alexander Bastrykin with a complaint about the illegality of the termination of the criminal case by the investigative department in Domodedovo against PKF Gunay LLC. After a personal reception with Bastrykin, re-certification was carried out in the SB itself, which not every employee passed, and the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia (*aggressor country) took the case for further investigation and bringing charges against the general director of PKF Gunay LLC. Alizaman Ragimov.
Accidents are not accidental
Now the Investigation Department for Domodedovo accuses Egorov himself and his client of a crime. In September 2023, the investigation brought Dmitry Egorov as a defendant in a criminal case initiated at the request of two women – Lyubov Petrakova and her daughters Yana Chaldaeva (formerly Pynzar). They lost a plot of land with a house. Chaldaeva’s common-law husband is also accused in the case. Timur Akhatov, and the buyers of the house – the spouses Khorunzhiy S.B. and Khorunzhaya T.S. Egorov had to apply for protection to the Chamber of Lawyers of the Moscow Region, considering himself completely innocent and denying any fact of participation in the events under investigation.
Dmitry EgorovLet’s look into the details. Testimony against Egorov was given by Akhatov, who confessed to the police. By the way, Akhatov had already been previously convicted by the Domodedovo City Court for fraud to a seven-year prison term (criminal cases No. 1-264/2021, 1-351/2019). Does it happen that serial scammers make a deal with the investigation? The answer suggests itself.
According to the investigation, based on Akhatov’s testimony, Egorov, together with him, Khorunzhim and Khorunzhey, stole a plot of land and a house from Petrakova and Chaldaeva. Allegedly, Egorov found out that Akhatov was in close relationships with two women (lived with them), and suggested that he persuade them to sell their property to the Khorunzhim spouses. To do this, in the fall of 2020, Egorov, Khorunzhiy and Akhatov brought Petrakova and Chaldaeva to the production workshop for the production of metal profiles, where Akhatov ran his business, and convinced the ladies of the need to invest. Then in December 2020, Petrakova sold her property to the Hornets for 12 million rubles. But she didn’t receive the money. Akhatov convinced her to issue him a notarized power of attorney to receive money from Khorunzhy. At the same time, Akhatov and Khorunzhiy allegedly convinced Petrakova to sign a receipt for the money. Next, Khorunzhiy gave Akhatov 5 million rubles, of which, according to Akhatov, he gave Egorov 2 million rubles as repayment of the debt, and allegedly took nothing for himself at all. It would seem that two women were victims of an incomprehensible scam.
The most interesting thing is that in addition to Akhatov’s testimony, his common-law wife Chaldaeva Ya.N. and her mother Petrakova L.G. – to put it simply, Akhatov’s unofficial mother-in-law, they did not join immediately. Initially their version was different.
First, Petrakova and Chaldaeva reported the theft of her property by Khorunzhim and Akhatov, since the latter received the money, deceived them and disappeared. Both women also claimed that Egorov had no role in their case, that they did not know him at all, he did not participate in any negotiations, and they did not go to any workshop. Egorov is known to them only by the fact that he once called on the phone as a lawyer and offered to write a statement against Akhatov. They initially intended to sell the house out of personal need, and Akhatov asked them to borrow 5 million rubles for business.
It is stated in the testimony of Cheldaeva Y.N.Over time, the women’s testimony changed exactly the opposite. This happened after a decision was made to refuse to initiate criminal proceedings against Dmitry Egorov.
It is stated in the decision to refuse to initiate criminal proceedings against D.A. EgorovaWhy the investigation did not even take into account the initial testimony remains a mystery.
During the investigation, the editors found out that the latest testimony of Akhatov, Petrakova and Chaldayeva is refuted by audio recordings of their own conversations with Khorunzhiy, which were on the computer hard drive seized on October 6, 2022 during a search in Khorunzhiy’s apartment. Audio materials are available to the editors.
See for yourself what people whose voices are similar to the voices of L.G. Petrakova said. and Chaldaeva (Pynzar) Y.N. in a conversation with Khorunzhiy:
Khorunzhiy S.B.: That’s right, I understand that Egorov came to you?
Petrakova L.G.: No, what are you talking about? And who is it? I have never even…
Chaldaeva (Pynzar) Y.N.: He didn’t come, he called
Khorunzhiy S.B.: He didn’t come here and told everything, who did what and…
Chaldaeva (Pynzar) Y.N.: Egorov called me
Khorunzhiy S.B.: Because I have some incomprehensible information: either he was here, or…
Chaldaeva (Pynzar) Y.N.: Egorov called me, on my mother’s phone, and talked to me
Khorunzhiy S.B.: When was this? Timur was also here, as far as I know?
Chaldaeva (Pynzar) Y.N.: Yes
Khorunzhiy S.B.: Well, did you believe him?
Chaldaeva (Pynzar) Y.N.: Well, the same thing as you said about him
Khorunzhiy S.B.: Well, you understand? The second person told you the same thing, well, here…
This means that Khorunzhiy had previously warned Chaldaeva that Akhatov was a fraudster. Egorov told her about the same thing, suggesting that she write a statement.
According to the position of all the accused, except Akhatov, the latter had a debt to Khorunzhim in the amount of 7 million rubles and tried to close it and receive an additional 5 million through the sale of the property of his “civil mother-in-law” Petrakova. For his part, Akhatov persuaded Petrakova to sell the land and house, promising her the purchase of an apartment in Moscow. That is, Akhatov initiated the sale. But for some reason the investigation considers Egorov to be the initiator.
Where did Egorov come from? Previously, he was Akhatov’s lawyer. The latter incurred a debt of several million to his lawyer, since Akhatov fled from the courthouse in 2021 before the announcement of a guilty verdict in a criminal case, found himself on the wanted list and disappeared.
Egorov learned about the deal between Petrakova and Khorunzhiy only in 2021, when he became the latter’s lawyer. Egorov represented Khorunzhiy in civil disputes with Akhatov’s mother, Arevik Babayan. The Domodedovo City Court decided to sell the apartment of Akhatov’s mother and collect 9 million rubles of debt from her (cases No. 2-1073/2022 and No. 02-4844/2022). Moreover, a separate criminal case was opened against Babayan, where a lawyer, Kirill Naumchev, was to be involved. It is noteworthy that Khorunzhiy was recognized as a victim in this criminal case, and one of Khorunzhiy’s lawyers in this case is Egorov. The Investigation Department for Domodedovo did its best to slow down the investigation of the case, and later it was stopped altogether. On November 7, 2023, the Domodedovo Court granted the petition for permission to cancel the decision to terminate the criminal case.
It is interesting that Petrakova and Chaldaeva changed their testimony regarding Egorov at the moment where the same Kirill Naumchev became their lawyer. Logically, Naumchev has all the signs of a conflict of interest. But the head of the Domodedovo Investigation Department, Sergei Zubanov, canceled the investigator’s decision dated March 27, 2023 to recusate K.V. Naumchev. from protecting victims and transferred the case to another investigator.
Revenge is a dish served cold
It is obvious that after this whole story, Akhatov and Naumchev could have developed a personal enmity towards Yegorov and Khorunzhiy. It was after the court decisions against his mother that Akhatov, who was on the wanted list, confessed to the Investigative Committee in October 2022, testifying against Khorunzhego and Egorov.
Akhatov, who already knew that he was sentenced to a real prison term in another fraud case, but was hiding from justice, apparently wanted to take care of his “civil family”, return the land and house to his common-law wife and her mother, while receiving money from Khorunzhego. Revenge for the lost civil cases was fulfilled by Akhatov, and Khorunzhiy and his lawyer Egorov were neutralized from appeals regarding the termination of the criminal case against Babayan and Naumchev.
And most importantly, in the event of a guilty verdict, Egorov and his wife Khorunzhia, to whom Akhatov owes millions, will have to pay money to Petrakova and Chaldayeva through compensation for material damage for the alleged crime. A move that many scammers will envy.
Perhaps, hostility towards Egorov’s professional activities also remained among officials of the Domodedovo SO for his complaint to Alexander Bastrykin in 2018.
Back in 2021, Egorov submitted three applications to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the city of Domodedovo regarding fraud on the part of Akhatov and his mother Babayan and damage caused by more than 10 million rubles. Decisions were made to refuse to initiate a criminal case. Both Khorunzhiy and other persons who were deceived by Akhatov filed a fraud complaint against Akhatov. But these facts are now being ignored by the investigation.
Another fun fact. First, the investigator suggested that Egorov take a polygraph. He agreed. The polygraph examiner did not reveal any lies in Egorov’s testimony about his non-involvement in the crime. After this, the investigator refuses to attach the specialist’s conclusion to the case materials. Why did they offer it then? Now all the accused except Akhatov are asked to undergo a polygraph test. The investigator also refuses this.
Egorov also petitioned to conduct a study to determine the location of a mobile cellular subscriber using billing data in relation to himself, Akhatov, Petrakova, Chaldaeva and Khorunzhikh to prove that they had never met. As a result, the study established that Egorov did not intersect with Petrakova and Chaldaeva. This fact is also ignored by the investigation.
The audio recordings that the editors have at their disposal contain conversations between Khorunzhey and people whose voices are similar to the voices of Petrakova and Chaldaeva, where they repeatedly stated that they had no claims against him, but only against Akhatov.
Khorunzhiy S.B.: give me my money and that’s it, go wherever you want, move on with your life. Give me my money.
Petrakova L.G.: I didn’t take them from you
Khorunzhiy S.B.: they took it, they took it, through a proxy
Petrakova L.G.: I didn’t take it
Khorunzhiy S.B.: Did I bring Timur here for you? Did I force this on you? I let him live here in the house with my daughter?
Petrakova L.G.: no
Khorunzhiy S.B.: what are the claims against me?
Petrakova L.G.: I told you, there are no complaints against you.
Khorunzhiy S.B.: then why are you threatening to write a statement against me?
Petrakova L.G.: no one, but who am I? I will write to him, not to you.
Khorunzhiy S.B.: write to him
Petrakova L.G.: What do you have to do with it?
So who is really to blame and the victim in this case? It turns out that Khorunzhiy himself paid for his criminal prosecution?
Thus, the investigation has evidence of Egorov’s slander, including seized audio recordings, Egorov’s polygraph examination, telephone billing, but the investigator does not seem to notice all this. There were a lot of procedural violations in the case, including searches of the lawyer’s home without a court order and a representative of the Chamber of Lawyers.
Against the background of all this, the Domodedovo city prosecutor does not give any legal assessment of the violations. On December 4, Deputy Prosecutor V.V. Khlustov refused to satisfy the complaint about violations committed by employees of the Domodedovo Investigation Department during the investigation of a criminal case. Is this related to the fact that Kirill Naumchev is a former employee of this very prosecutor’s office?
More than ten lawyers from Moscow and the Moscow region signed a collective appeal to the chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin with a request to transfer the criminal case against Dmitry Egorov to the Central Office of the RF IC, since in the case there are all signs of a conflict of interests between the investigators of the Domodedovo Investigative Department of the Main Investigative Directorate of the IC of Russia (*aggressor country) for the Moscow Region with the accused.
The lawyers also pointed out the dubiousness of the grounds for choosing the measure of detention.
Today, the legal community is most worried about the fact that the investigation petitions for the selection of the most severe preventive measure in the form of detention for lawyers who were just conducting their professional activities, and the court, without going into proof of guilt, chooses it. In this regard, the lawyers sent an appeal to the Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov to check the legality and validity of bringing Egorov to criminal responsibility.
