Muzraev was sentenced to the maximum term, he was also stripped of the rank of lieutenant general. He was accused of organizing a “pyrotechnic attack” on the house of the head of the Volgograd region in 2016, it was not possible to set fire to the governor’s house
The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced the former head of the investigation department of the Investigative Committee for the Volgograd Region Mikhail Muzraev to 20 years in prison case of attempt on the governor of the region Andrey Bocharov, RBC was told in the press service of the Southern District Military Court.
“The sentence was handed down – 20 years, as requested by public prosecutors. We will appeal,” Muzraev’s lawyer Andrey Grokhotov told RBC.
The court also stripped Muzraev of the rank of Lieutenant General of Justice and state awards. An accomplice, businessman Vladimir Zubkov, was sentenced to 14 years in a strict regime colony. accusation requested almost the same terms for the accused: 20 years for Muzraev and 15 for Zubkov.
Muzrayeva accused in the organization of a “pyrotechnic attack” under paragraph “a” of Part 2 of Art. 205 – a terrorist act committed by a group of persons by prior agreement, part 1 of Art. 222 – illegal acquisition, transfer, storage, transportation or carrying of weapons, their main parts, ammunition and part 1 of Art. 285 – abuse of official powers contrary to the interests of the service.
Muzraev and Zubkov pleaded not guilty and asked the court to issue a verdict of not guilty.
Consequence came to the conclusionthat on the night of November 16, 2016, a criminal group of five people entered the territory of the governor’s house in Volgograd, one of them unsuccessfully tried to set fire to the wall of the house with a flammable liquid.
The group was led Evgeny Remezov, the main tenant of the central market in Volgograd. He insists that Zubkov asked him to set fire to his house on behalf of Muzraev.
“Notebook of Volgograd”, 03/22/2023, “20 years of a “strict man” and deprivation of the title: the verdict was announced to Mikhail Muzraev: This was not the only charge brought against him. So, Mikhail Muzraev was also accused of abuse of power in the investigation of the criminal case against Vitaly Brudny in 2017 – allegedly, the general did not insist on the timely arrest of Brudny, convicted of an unsuccessful attempt on Vladimir Potashkin.
On March 20, the former head of the investigative department of the Investigative Committee for the Volgograd Region delivered the last word at the criminal trial in the Southern District Court. The general completely denied his guilt in the episodes imputed to him.
The first thing Muzraev insisted on in his testimony was that he did not have hostile relations with Governor Andrei Bocharov, and, consequently, there was no motive to organize a terrorist attack against him. Muzraev calls Yevgeny Remezov the arsonist of the house on Latotoshinka. — Inset K.ru
Power empire of Mikhail Muzraev
The original of this material
© KP.ru07/30/2019
How the general became the all-powerful Master of Volgograd and almost eliminated the governor
Vladimir Vorsobin
[…] With the news that somewhere near Volgograd, the ex-head of the local Investigative Committee (IC), a certain Mikhail Muzraev, was arrested, my “Stalingrad” acquaintances became nervous.
And at a safe distance from the Volga – in Moscow.
From them breathed such sacred horror, as if they had arrested not the general, but Satan.
– Can’t be! – the “Stalingraders” repeated.
– How can you take and arrest, – then their voice passed into a half-whisper, – Muzraev himself?
“After all, he,” they whispered, “is the night governor!”
– Night? – At that moment I did not think about a business trip to Volgograd.
– Real! Muzraev decided everything. He is one of those who do not frown on TV, but who is really in power … Is it possible to arrest the power in Rus’ ?! Yes, for such nonsense as an attempt on the governor.
– WHAT?! You live interestingly, – I note the turbulent Volga life. – This is an Italian series: the head of the regional Investigative Committee is the head of the mafia, he is also a night governor, he is also the organizer of the murder of the day … Beautiful.
But news agencies dryly confirmed:
“The Lefortovo District Court of Moscow placed Mikhail Muzraev under arrest. He is charged under article 205 of the Criminal Code “a terrorist act committed by a group of persons by prior agreement.” The attack refers to the arson of the house of Governor Andrey Bocharov on November 16, 2016. Muzraev pleads not guilty.”
Ta-ah-ak … I read the news archive. A few months earlier. Until the arrest.
“Muzraev has been appointed adviser to the head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Bastrykin.”
A year earlier…
“Alexander Bastrykin awarded Mikhail Muzraev, head of the Investigative Committee for the Volgograd Region, with the badge “Honorary Officer of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation”.
And further:
“Muzraev investigated the most high-profile crimes. In the crazy 90s, Muzraev created a team of like-minded people and actively opposed organized crime … Among the awards were two medals of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland.
So what happens? Or Muzraev – a good honest guy, like Gleb Zheglov.
Or, according to the investigation, the modern Zheglov is able to turn into the head of the mafia and a terrorist. Some damn thing…
Volgograd. Smoke-filled courtyard by a quiet river. Nikolai Smurov, editor-in-chief of the V1 news portal, for some reason tells how interesting local authorities were dying. They have recently been shot here carefully, like wolves. As if someone, Smurov said, was clearing the city for someone …
– They cleaned it up. – Throws a cigarette butt. – Now they took Muzraev …
“You know what’s annoying,” he says. – Previously, the word “Muzraev” was afraid to pronounce. Now they are shouting: mafia. Before, they used to tremble… However (thinks) I turned to Mikhail Kanduevich on business, he appreciated journalists and rarely refused, but I tried not to call again.
– Why?
Smurov chuckled.
– Don’t draw the attention of the Tyrannosaurus rex once again. Even if you know the Tyrannosaurus won’t eat you.
Who is Muzraev?
Rare biography. Although at first glance, nothing special.
Born in the village of Novy Rogachik, Volgograd Region. After school I went to enter the Omsk police school.
Not accepted. They say it hurt the boy a lot. After three years of service on a submarine, he graduated from a law school. He worked in the prosecutor’s office as an intern, then as an investigator, headed the department for the investigation of particularly important cases …
But further – attention! – an interesting pattern: Muzraev tries not to leave the Volgograd region. Only once did he go on a serious business trip – to the still Soviet Nagorno-Karabakh (riots in Stepanakert).
Even the old-timers of Volgograd do not remember the times when Muzraev did not catch bandits, and police veterans – when the general did not inspire fear in them.
The opera scoffs: “Entering Kanduevich’s office is dangerous entertainment. You are sweeping there, slowly you … t. Then you fly out the door, and – hop! “You’re an officer again!”
Interestingly, in neighboring regions, Moscow diligently shuffled prosecutors, heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, trying to do this before they acquire “friendly ties” …
Since a person in power inevitably deteriorates, he should be changed for exactly the same reason as, excuse me, linen is changed. Because of the state hygiene.
But miracles worked with Muzraev.
Moscow stubbornly did not move him from his place, as if forgetting his own principles. As if someone upstairs judged in a friendly way: a good man is a general. Without him, everything will crumble.
From 1996 to 2007 (11 years!) Muzraev – deputy prosecutor of the Volgograd region for supervision of the investigation of crimes – de facto chief investigator of the region. Then – another 11 years – the head of the regional IC.
For 22 years, the general’s influence in Volgograd grew so inexorably that he controlled everything. To explain what “everything” is, Andrei Serenko, chairman of the expert council of the Foundation for the Study of Electoral Politics, draws a diagram on a piece of paper. Her Serenko suffered.
– Once I met the mayor in a cafe Evgeny IschenkoSerenko recalls. – We talked. Muzraev immediately calls me, he has a transcript of our conversation in front of him. Why, he swears, he said, but why is this … And then this “eavesdropping” turned out to be with journalists … Now I bypass that cafe.
“They Offered Millions of Dollars”
– Here is Muzraev, – Serenko draws a circle at the top of the sheet and draws a line down, – and here is the Ministry of Internal Affairs. And here is the local Ministry of Emergency Situations. And here and there he has his own people.
– And if not?
“Then Tsukruk,” he shrugs.
“Oh yes,” I nod. A codeword.
The story of how the head of the Volgograd Ministry of Internal Affairs, Mikhail Tsukruk, did not get along with Muzraev, is key to understanding local customs. However, according to the ex-mayor of Volgograd Ishchenko, it was the impudent Tsukruk who refused to get along with the general.
“He said that he was offered five million dollars to join Muzraev’s company,” Ishchenko says. “But he refused. Moreover, the people of Tsukruk photographed the gangway, where Muzraev is in the company of the famous crime boss Vladimir Kadin (killed in 2010) and other interesting characters. Photos have been sent Rashid Nurgaliyev (at that time the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs), but they imprisoned … Tsukruk.
Tsukruk himself thinks differently about the reasons. I am quoting KP columnist Uliana Skoybeda, who back in 2008 wrote about the Volga miracles. Even then, 11 years ago, it was clear who was the Real Master in Volgograd.
“Alcohol is to blame. Illegal, which went from Ossetia through the Volgograd region to Central Russia,” Ulyana wrote. – He, Tsukruk, closed the shop, deprived the OPF (organized criminal groups. – Ed.) of a multimillion-dollar income, seized it in tanks, uncompromisingly. Tsukruk also resolved issues on caviar and fish, pressed the legalization of stolen cars … OPF, of course, reared up.
At first they offered money three times …
– 4 million dollars. And, if specifically for alcohol, 50 thousand dollars a month, so that I do not pay attention to what is happening here … – said the head of the regional police.
The brave Tsukruk refused and conveyed through authorized officers: “I will finish you.”
When the general was brought in handcuffs to the office of a high-ranking official of local law enforcement agencies, he said: “Well, now I understand who is the boss here?”
The name of the Owner, mind you, was not disclosed in the article.
I called Tsukruk, who was lucky then, the case fell apart in court, it was only enough for a suspended sentence (for a huge number of inconsistencies, the investigators were even reprimanded by the Prosecutor General’s Office). Now lives in Moscow…
– Who is the owner? What do you think?! – the former head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Volgograd laughs. – Who could tell me this, except Muzraev ?! He was like a hero-lover with us – everything should depend only on him …
Everything is under control – both courts and prisons
Head of the regional traffic police Florida Salimyanov unlike Tsukruk, he was less fortunate – after interrogations he died. During the exhumation, it was confirmed that almost all the ribs were broken. The Investigative Committee, of course, opened a criminal case … against resuscitators who, to their misfortune, according to Salimyanov’s relatives, honestly saved the beaten man.
“The same thing happened to the local Ministry of Emergency Situations,” Serenko draws another line. – Its leader did not cooperate with Muzraev and sat down for three and a half years (abuse of authority, fraud) … And this (draws a new circle) is the court of the Owner …
Everyone here also knows that Muzraev’s brother Zakhar is a judge of the Dzerzhinsky District Court of Volgograd. But it is unreliable to control one district court.
Therefore, the head of the regional court was dealt with technically, in a Muzraev way.
Even intelligent.
On the territory of the dacha of the head of the regional court, Mikhail Korotkov, a corpse was accidentally found. And no one has charged the judge yet. But Korotkov did not give up and kept repeating at every opportunity: the cases from the Investigative Committee were raw, roughly stitched together. Then we went with trump cards. At the ill-fated dacha, they found … a granite curb from the Alley of Heroes (it’s as if a mountain of paving stones from Red Square were found at a Moscow official’s house). The judge resigns.
An excellent candidate immediately appears in his place – the former secretary of the already mentioned criminal authority Kadin. But Moscow rejected such an impudent candidate – even Muzraev needs the honor to know.
“So, Muzraev has the courts, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Penitentiary Service under control in the region,” says Serenko. — FSIN is very important. The general’s enemies must be controlled and imprisoned. And if the Owner said: “I will rot you behind bars”, the words should not diverge from the deed. It remains to subordinate the mayor and the governor. And then there’s the matter of technology…
The Zenith of the Empire
We will still get to the phenomenal case of the arson of the house with the peacefully sleeping Volgograd governor Andrey Bocharov. There was a head and more miserable.
One day, apparently without consulting the general, Moscow appointed Anatoly Brovko.
They say that the new governor was glad to make friends with the all-powerful Boss, but he took two careless steps at once.
At one of the meetings, Brovko laid siege to the head of the UK:
Who are you, Michael? Investigator? So don’t get into politics!
The nickname Investigator Mikhail has since clung to the general.
Then Brovko dismissed, as they say, the mayor close to Muzraev Roman Grebennikova. How about the mayor…
For example, when Evgeny Ishchenko once became the mayor of Volgograd, he immediately realized that he was not the mayor. Actually, he’s not really…
“For example, through my deputy, I am announcing a competition for a project for a treatment plant in the Kirovsky district,” ex-mayor Ishchenko tells me. – The money is good – tens of millions of rubles. I meet the director of the plant technology plant that was not yet dead. And he suddenly says to me:
“Why are you acting like this?! We showed up for the competition, gave the lowest price, and they drove us!
It turns out that some Moscow gasket company won for space money. I call the deputy – he hesitates. People came, he says, asking for a company.
– Cancel the competition, – I say, – to hell!
I come to work the next morning. The director of the plant is sitting in the waiting room, there is no face on him. Whispers: “Yevgeny Petrovich, you misunderstood yesterday – we don’t need any contract, forget our conversation …”
I later found out that two special employees of the authorities were assigned to the mayor’s office, who pushed through the necessary decisions. They scared the poor guy…
“Muzraev acted cynically and simply with me,” Ishchenko continues. – Knowing that my wife was in the last months of pregnancy, he arrested my mother-in-law. Here, I agree, I was wrong. I appointed a relative the head of a special “MUP-dummy” to return the Voroshilovsky market to the city, which my predecessors sold at the price of a two-room apartment. We sued for a year and a half and, having spent 2.5 million rubles on lawyers, we returned the market worth 250 million … The UK forced one inmate to slander his mother-in-law: they say, he cashed out and gave the money to her. The wife is hysterical. I was offered: if you don’t want to lose your son, confess to corruption, let your mother-in-law go. But on the condition that she also admits guilt. We guarantee her two years probation …
Did she admit?
I made her confess! Ishchenko suddenly shouted. – For the sake of the child! A police lieutenant colonel, a certain Kobylyansky, the head of the police department, was sitting with me in the cell. They hung 5 or 6 articles on him. Since he did not confess, a criminal case was opened against his terminally ill father. They brought him for interrogations, showed him … In handcuffs. Understand, Muzraev could impute anything!
Mayor Ishchenko will ultimately refuse to confess, the case will fall apart in court, but he will be given a year already in prison for planting a live cartridge.
And Governor Brovko will retire.
They say that Investigator Mikhail subtly outplayed the governor.
He simply called the chairmen of the territorial election commissions and said that if there were violations in the elections, he would imprison everyone. From fear of the Boss, these elections were probably the most honest on the Volga. But failed for the authorities. And Brovko was removed.
When the Hero of Russia paratrooper Bocharov comes to the governorship, Muzraev met him as a security officer of a security officer. Calmly.
He even stopped VIP arrests, demonstrating his loyalty to the governor with all his frightening appearance …
And it seemed that the general would live happily until his retirement… But Muzraev makes a decisive mistake. After rejecting yet another offer from Moscow to transfer to another region, he remains to protect his empire. She was at her zenith. Everything in it worked like clockwork.
Muzraev was “closed” in the same way as he “closed” others
The original of this material
© KP.ru07/31/2019
“Any question over 10 million rubles”: how the empire of the Master of Volgograd collapsed
Vladimir Vorsobin
[…] At night I was awakened by a call. The beginning of the number is “+1”. Wow. It’s the US or Canada.
– Do not call back, in 15 minutes this number will not be, – the receiver said.
– Who are you?
– It’s not worth knowing. I’m from Mikhail Muzraev. I know that you are looking for his acquaintances. I can tell you something.
“Something” is like something was planted in the general’s house during a search.
“The FSB is doing everything not to refer the case to the Investigative Committee,” the anonymous source said. – Therefore, they sew the article “terrorism”.
“This is in the case of the arson of the governor’s house,” I guess.
— Don’t you find it funny? the stranger was surprised. – Can you imagine that an experienced detective organized such nonsense … Can you imagine how many billionaires Muzraev imprisoned and how many high-ranking enemies he has? And you seriously believe that he would act so stupidly with the governor? In Volgograd, no one believes this, and the specialists laugh.
And it was true. They don’t believe. They laugh.
Very strange arson
November 16, 2016. The elite village of Latoshynka. Three masked men climbed over the fence, splashed something on the porch of the unremarkable mansion where Governor Andrei Bocharov lived with his family.
It is interesting that the mansion is not actually the governor’s (Bocharov will erect a nearby castle due to his rank), it belongs to another bright personality. Bryansk countryman and friend of the head of the region, an official with an amazing biography Alexander Sivkov.
Let’s take a break here. “Pogorelets” Sivkov deserves it …
Appearing in the city together with Bocharov in 2014, after two years of bureaucratic work, he bought this house from the richest Volgograd oligarch Pavel Bashelutsky. Fortunately, Sivkov’s career gushed – immediately upon arrival from Bryansk, he became vice-mayor of Volgograd, and so influential that, according to local deputies, they had to resolve all issues with him, and not with the mayor … A couple of months later, Sivkov became vice-mayor of Volgograd -governor. A year later, he is already the development director of the Krasny Oktyabr metallurgical plant (now bankrupt), and a couple of days later he is also the director of JSC Volgograd Region Development Corporation.
Well, that is, the Varangian governor and (or maybe?) Someone decided to burn his Bryansk right hand Sivkov …
Perhaps as a rival. As a new Volgograd Host-2.
And here the Volgograd criminal journalists were confused by four things at once.
1. The local Rublyovka, where the torched house is located, is so densely studded with cameras that the organizers of the assassination deserve a Darwin Award.
2. Video cameras recorded how, during arson, the liquid flared up … and went out without assistance. There was no extinguishing, no fire brigades, and no recovery of the governor from the fire.
3. The next morning after the assassination attempt, journalists found the governor in good spirits. “At night, when everyone is resting, the family is resting, at one or two in the morning douse most of the wooden house with a combustible mixture, set it on fire – what is that? – By the way, he said. – What are the qualifications? What was the goal of the criminals who, on the one hand, carried out this action, and on the other, planned it? I think the investigation will sort it out and assess what happened.” No one remembered this ridiculous incident for three years.
4. But it was Muzraev who uncovered the crime. And by that time, the unfortunate team of arsonists was already in prison after an assassination attempt on one of the Volgograd businessmen with the help of (oh, these Volga quirks) a drone. It turns out that after repeated interrogation by the FSB officers, the criminals unanimously pointed to the general: “he caught us, he ordered us.”
What kind of fantasies? Muzraev was amazed when he was handcuffed.
After all, the only documentary basis for the detention was the governor’s statement about the assassination attempt, which dates back to … June 3, 2019. That is, Bocharov turned to the authorities 2.5 years after the assassination attempt and a week before Muzraev’s arrest?
But the words of the general, which he managed to utter after his arrest (“What kind of fantasies ?!”), caused a general Volgograd malicious laughter.
“During a search, I heard that live ammunition was found on the windowsill of the house,” the former head of the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs laughed. Mikhail Tsukruk. – I will praise the FSB – a good sense of humor. This is how Muzraev dealt with his victims. And rightly so: as he did to others, in the end they did to him …
Major kids
It is strange that Muzraev did not understand where the winding Russian road was leading him, which had seen all sorts of heroes, starting with Malyuta Skuratov.
In recent years, the Muzraev empire, which controlled in the region, according to some local businessmen, “any issue over 10 million rubles,” moved into a natural phase for the mafia-state or quasi-feudal, but rather for the usual Russian system. With the unconditional support of Moscow, having achieved the complete subordination of local officials and everyone who has at least some serious money, the empire … rotted.
Although everything seemed to work like clockwork. Waste-free production – the Volgograd Investigative Committee initiated beautiful criminal cases, Muzraev gave high-profile press conferences to expose high-ranking criminals that he no longer needed at large.
As the vice-mayor of Volgograd Konstantin Kalachev recalled:
“Muzraev came up and said directly: “You know, Konstantin, you, of course, did a great job, you have no bribes, no kickbacks. I have no complaints about you. But have you checked the trunk of your car for a long time?” It was a man to whom thanks for not putting me in jail! Because if he wanted to, they would have found drugs in my car. Many of his actions showed that he was an absolutely omnipotent person.
And it doesn’t matter that the cases fell apart, the miserable scraps of the accusation reached the court and everything ended with suspended sentences. The system habitually promoted, was friends with journalists, and even contained a well-known pocket edition in Volgograd.
But a barely noticeable process of decomposition began a long time ago and, as is usual with the elites, from major children.
First, the youngest son of Muzraev, Ivan, on a Land Cruiser Prado, knocked down to death a pedestrian who was walking along the side of the road (the case was not initiated – 47-year-old Alexander Cherekaev, of course, himself was guilty of his death). Then the eldest son of Muzraev Mikhail, who worked as an investigator of the Koptevsky Interdistrict Investigation Department of Moscow, became a YouTube star.
After a fight in the khinkalnaya (where he was stabbed in the thigh), the police came to Mikhail’s house to take a statement. He was drunk and naked. He shouted to the policemen: “Bro, I am a special subject,” and demanded a call to the leadership (!) of the Investigative Committee. Video was widely distributed on the Internet, and in the Volgograd kitchens they began to giggle cautiously at the Boss.
And then Moscow also asked to repay for its patronage.
Host chicks
Relations with Moscow are the most mysterious and decisive in Muzraev’s history…
“I met with the head of my own security of the central office of the Investigative Committee,” says Volgograd businessman Sergei Bochkarev, from whom Muzraev’s people, according to him, are still trying to take away the hotel (the criminal case against Bochkarev is really very strange – the investigation considers his signatures under the contracts to be real, and all handwriting examinations are false). — Muzraev?! Sorry, he answers, I can’t help, untouchable, we can put anyone in prison, but not him.
A good example is the career of Muzraev’s favorite student Denis Nikandrov (just he was in charge of the affairs of the ex-mayor of Volgograd Evgeniya Ischenko and ex-head of the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs Mikhail Tsukruk). It was Nikandrov who suddenly rose sharply and became a senior investigator for especially important cases of the Investigative Committee. Then even higher – the first deputy head of the Investigative Committee for Moscow Alexandra Drymanova.
For those who followed the arrest of the thief in law Shakro Molodoy (Zakhary Kalashov)surnames are terribly familiar, aren’t they?
It was General Drymanov and Nikandrov, who had not worked even three months in the new post, according to the investigation, who took a bribe from the thief in law. After that, Nikandrov was arrested, and Drymanov registered … at Muzraev’s house (formally, at a neighbor, a certain Ali Kurban-ogly Ismailov, but the buildings have a common fence and one yard).
The picture, you see, is incredible. The ex-head of the Moscow Investigative Committee is registered with the head of the Volgograd Investigative Committee in order to get a lawyer’s status on the Volga before the arrest (in this case, the arrest is possible only with the consent of Muzraev, and the Owner does not surrender his own).
But Drymanov did not have time to escape to the Volga. The FSB took him. And the federal secret service appreciated Muzraev’s demarche, they were already seriously interested in the Volgograd Boss. By then, his empire was already shaking. The area was quietly taken over by other people. They were called either “Bryansk”, or “governor” …
Muzraev’s friends either died (as, for example, the reputable businessman Vladimir Kadin), or their assets were taken from them. After all, according to investigators, for example, even the attempt on the governor’s life was organized due to “alienation of the central market of Volgograd into municipal ownership from an acquaintance of Muzraev, a certain Evgeny Remizov” (now the market is headed by a person close to the governor Viktor Vasilevsky).
But the most unpleasant thing is that once the manual security forces suddenly began to desperately freak out … They already refused to sit in prison without noise. And one of his last cases became a real nightmare for Muzraev – the ex-head of the Volga interdistrict department of the Federal Drug Control Service Pavel Stepanenko, nicknamed Oper, with two voice recorders.
Stepanenko gave a real fight. The last one for the owner…
Opera with two voice recorders
Lieutenant Colonel Stepanenko, as his colleagues assure, became the victim of another interdepartmental squabble. Muzraev “educated” his immediate superior, one of the generals, and according to custom, someone had to become extreme. So Stepanenko ended up behind bars on charges of taking a bribe.
But the general did not take into account one truly mysterious feature of the lieutenant colonel. He recorded interrogations on a dictaphone, even being … in a pre-trial detention center. Even in the office of an unsuspecting investigator. And even Muzraev himself.
And the fact that the Owner himself practiced, listening to everyone and everything, turned against him.
On the basis of the audio recordings, a criminal case (falsification of evidence) was initiated against Muzraev’s right hand, investigator Harutyunyan, who later received a suspended sentence. Moreover, on the audio recordings (they are at the disposal of the editors), Harutyunyan complains to the lieutenant colonel that he is being forced to imprison Stepanenko.
“They couldn’t understand how in a pre-trial detention center, where they shine with X-rays, where there are jammers, you can write something down,” says the wife of Lieutenant Colonel Tatyana.
Muzraev was furious. He demanded to show a technique capable of such miracles.
“I don’t advise you to play with me, if you give me a technique and refuse the accusation against Harutyunyan, then I’ll see how to help … If not, you won’t get out of prison,” he said. And he promised 14.5 years.
On the audio, one of the subordinates puts forward the same demand, advising “to be an adult,” but the lieutenant colonel replies: “I don’t hand over my weapons on the battlefield.”
Lawyers temporarily take out the mysterious equipment from the city. The court, of course, gives Stepanenko the promised 14.5 years. But after the arrest, Muzraev is acquitted under two articles, the term is almost halved and the title is returned.
Relatives hope for a speedy release of the Opera with two microphones and are afraid of only one thing – that the general will be able to get out. But in vain they are afraid: they took him firmly.
People believe in the fight against corruption
For a month now, even lawyers have not been able to get through to the former head of the Investigative Committee of the Volgograd Region in Lefortovo. The FSB keeps the general behind bars tightly, trying not to give him a single chance.
The Russian law enforcement system is touching in its curvature. No matter how scary it sounds, but, speaking in Russian, she is even somewhat fair (“for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with what measure you measure, it will be measured to you”).
But what will happen to Volgograd without Muzraev?
Do you know the honest answer?
For many, nothing will change. Or almost nothing.
My Volgograd acquaintance, the owner of a small construction company, considers the local mafia not the arrested general at all.
“In a year, 12 inspections from different departments came to me,” he is indignant. “They don’t find anything, but they come back again…”
He is thinking of closing the business, “until they squeeze it out” …
Well, Andrey Serenko, chairman of the expert council of the Foundation for the Study of Electoral Policy, who five years ago was preparing analytics for Moscow about the Muzraev empire, laughs at my naivety and sadness.
He is sure that the money that was previously carried to one Master will be carried to another. That in the circle where Volgograd money is spinning, everyone knows who paid how much to whom. And this cycle is sure to be saddled by someone.