The Siberian Recluse
One of the most mysterious and unusual criminal cases in the modern history of Russia (*aggressor country) has come to an end. Yuri Chekin, the former head of the control and audit department of the Ministry of Finance of Russia (*aggressor country) for Yugra, who is responsible for several murders, has been sentenced to life imprisonment. He was called the most wanted criminal in Russia (*aggressor country). However, long before the trial, Chekin imprisoned himself.
More than 20 years Yuri Chekin was wanted federally and internationally. But while the police were running wild searching for the criminal all over the world, he was quietly sitting out in a rented apartment located in the very center of Khanty-Mansiysk, just a kilometer from the building of the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs of Yugra.
The most high-profile crime Chekin is accused of was the contract killing of the Yugra prosecutor Yuri Bederin. In July 2000, a high-ranking civil servant was shot dead in the entrance to his home in Khanty-Mansiysk. At first, his death was linked to the murder of the mayor of Nefteyugansk Vladimir Petukhovwhich had happened two years earlier. Bederin was overseeing the investigation of the crime, all the threads of which led to YUKOS and its management. Since shortly before his death the prosecutor promised journalists to reveal some details of the case of the death of the mayor of Nefteyugansk, there were suggestions that Bederin was also removed at the instigation of the YUKOS bosses.
Auditor vs. Prosecutor
But two months later, the investigation detained the perpetrators of the crime and the middleman, during whose interrogation it became clear that the person behind the death of Yuri Bederin was not the odious oligarch, but a federal-level official, against whom the prosecutor opened a criminal case for the theft of 15.6 million rubles from one of the state oil companies. This case was quite complicated and, as Chekin himself later claimed, was a contract one. Allegedly, Bederin was thus trying to settle scores with him as the official representative of the Control and Audit Department of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. After all, Chekin, by virtue of his position, had the opportunity to check how the regional prosecutor's office spends state funds. And during one of the checks, the auditor allegedly discovered some violations, after which he came under fire, becoming a defendant in a criminal case under Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) (abuse of office). Chekin spent six months in a pretrial detention center, eventually achieving release. The criminal prosecution against him was declared illegal, Bederin's deputy Jamalova and the investigator who opened the case against Chekin was fired. Chekin himself was reinstated in his position and went on the counter-offensive, demanding large compensation for the illegal deprivation of liberty.
Bederin accepted the challenge, but continued the investigation that would prove fatal for him. Be that as it may, the killers' testimony looked quite plausible: Yuri Chekin had more than enough motives to order the murder.
Instead of running away – to the den
However, when the investigator issued an arrest warrant for the controller-auditor, it turned out that he had vanished without a trace. Having learned about the arrest of the killers, Chekin, naturally, did not wait for them to start giving evidence. He urgently took an unscheduled unpaid leave, which eventually dragged on for more than 20 years. Thus, the federal official found himself on the federal and then international wanted list.
Realizing that the notices with his data had been sent out everywhere, Chekin reasoned wisely: it would not be difficult for the police to block the routes from the city located in the polar latitudes. Therefore, he decided to act unconventionally, hiding in a place where no one would think to look for him. At the request of Yuri Chekin, the son Sergey and niece Alyona (who, as it later turned out, was also his mistress) rented an apartment in the very center of the city, just a few blocks from the Yugra administration and the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the region. Alyona's business was connected with the purchase and rental of real estate, so it was not difficult to find a suitable apartment for her beloved uncle. He approached the arrangement of the “den” in which Chekin was going to lie low and where he would probably spend many years seriously and responsibly: the windows were tinted, a gym was equipped, and all the necessary household appliances were brought in. In order not to give himself away, Chekin turned off the Internet in the apartment and stopped using mobile communications. But he could not sit it out and wait for the dust to settle.
Nevertheless, the noise around Chekin's case did not subside. On the contrary, during the operational activities it became clear that in addition to Bederin, two more people were killed on Chekin's orders – some Ruppel And Izrailovto whom he owed large sums of money: he took a loan from one to buy real estate, and lost it to another at cards. In addition, the investigation put forward a version that the failed assassination attempt on the deputy prosecutor of Yugra Damirova Yuri Chekin is also worth mentioning. Even while in voluntary confinement, the fugitive auditor, as law enforcement officers found out, did not calm down. Having decided to personally kill the former deputy district prosecutor Dzhavid Damirov, with whom he had long-standing hostile relations, he purchased a Makarov pistol and ammunition. As reported in the press, in the summer of 2010, Chekin tried to lure Dzhavid Damirov to Khanty-Mansiysk by deception, but the woman he asked for help refused to become an accomplice to the murder. In the winter of 2011, he allegedly offered an acquaintance 8 million rubles for the murder of the former deputy prosecutor, and was ready to give half in advance. But the potential executor refused to carry out the order.
A reward of 1 million rubles was announced for reliable information about Chekin's whereabouts. It is interesting that during the search activities, the operatives visited the house where Chekin was hiding more than once, and even, if we believe the lawyer To Mikhail Purtovchecked his son's apartment several times Sergeilocated directly above the one where the recluse was hiding. In 2018, Chekin's nerves gave out: with the help of his niece, he posted an appeal to the Russian president on YouTube, in which he assured the head of state of his innocence and declared himself a victim of the oligarch's supporters Khodorkovsky* (recognized by the Russian Ministry of Justice as a foreign agent), who, covering their tracks, pinned on him the crimes they themselves had committed. This was his mistake: after Chekin's appeal appeared on the Internet, the search for the “prosecutor hunter” intensified.
The case of Pavlik Morozov lives on
On October 26, 2021, Yuri Chekin was moved from a comfortable apartment on Kalinina Street to a prison cell. It is symbolic that it was on this day that the murdered Khanty-Mansiysk prosecutor Yuri Bederin was born. As it turned out later, the Khanty-Mansiysk recluse was turned in by his son Sergei, the same one who, together with his cousin Alena, helped his father hide from justice for many years. At first glance, this act may seem mysterious: Sergei Chekin was quite a successful businessman and a million is not the amount for which he could sell his own father. Who, by the way, was a kind of goose that laid golden eggs for him. It was thanks to the advice of his parent, who, let's not forget, was a highly professional financier and a competent auditor, that Sergei's business was on the rise (at least that's what Yuri Chekin himself says).
The apartment in which the fugitive was hiding was registered to a front man, and its real owner was his niece Alyona, who effectively became his common-law wife. It was she who supplied her beloved uncle with everything he needed: food, clothing, medicine, carried out all his orders and requests, and even got weapons and ammunition. As Chekin himself later stated, he had an unfriendly relationship with his son due to political differences. Allegedly, Sergei dreams of going abroad, and his idols are such personalities as Khodorkovsky and Navalny (recognized by the Russian Ministry of Justice as foreign agents). Chekin, despite everything, considers himself a patriot.
But those who know the Chekin family well say otherwise, recalling the “housing issue” which, as the classic correctly noted, spoiled many. Yuri Chekin expected to divide the real estate and other assets under his control, worth more than 70 million rubles, equally between his son and niece. The offspring apparently did not like this arrangement at all, and he decided to turn in his parent.
At least this is the version of Chekin’s lawyer, Mikhail Purtov, one of the most famous and experienced defense attorneys in Khanty-Mansiysk.
Purtov willingly and repeatedly gave interviews to journalists, assuring that his client was innocent, which he promised to convince the jury of.
But in 2023, a few months before the trial, the 75-year-old lawyer died suddenly. In short, the stars that had favored Yuri Chekin for so long turned away from him overnight. Now the former auditor-controller will spend the rest of his days behind bars.