Thief in law Rashid Dzhambulsky met the 18-year sentence with a smile

“I will not ask for any forgiveness or indulgence, remember someone here, children and so on. We all walk under the Almighty, and I think my judgment will be there. And what will you decide… God give you strength,” Rashid Khachatryan, better known as Dzhambulsky, addressed the court. The Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan made a rather sensational decision the day before in the case of the so-called “Tatarinskiye” OCG: it admitted that there was no criminal community. However, the “thieves'” article, which was imputed to Dzhambulsky, still stood in court. Almost all 10 defendants in the criminal case received impressive terms. Details – in the material “BUSINESS Online”.

How Dzhambulsky protested against the cameras

The announcement of the verdict in the criminal case of Rashid Khachatryan and Co. began with an hour delay. By the appointed time, all the lawyers had already come up, delivered all the defendants, only Dzhambulsky himself was missing. The unplanned delay was explained at the same time as a “technical hitch”, which was miraculously resolved immediately after the journalists were told about the restrictions on filming the process. Media representatives were told that Khachatryan’s health worsened, although a couple of hours earlier, during his last word, he looked quite cheerful: he rushed around the judicial “aquarium”, sorted out the rosary.

When the journalists were nevertheless allowed into the hall without photo and video cameras, Khachatryan just as cheerfully expressed his protest against the shooting and even suspected the BUSINESS Online correspondent, who was holding the phone at chest level, of “secret” photography. “Write, draw what you want, then do it, but don’t bring it to sin! I think it’s a provocation!” he said.

The rest of the defendants, who were in the neighboring “aquarium”, seemed to be preparing for the close attention of journalists and put on black masks. And then, following the example of Khachatryan, they unanimously refused to shoot.

Despite the fact that the judicial investigation dragged on for a year and a half, it took federal judge Airat Ibatullin only an hour and a half to make crucial decisions for the defendants. It took about 40 minutes to announce the verdict: the judge announced only the introductory operative part, from which only the deadlines assigned to the defendants became known. A reasoned decision on the case will be made later.

What was Khachatryan and Co accused of?

Khachatryan was tried on 13 episodes: occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy (Article 210.1 of the Criminal Code), fraud and attempted assassination (Article 159 of the Criminal Code), organizing a criminal community (Article 210 of the Criminal Code), illegal possession, transfer, sale or transportation of explosives substances (Article 222.1 of the Criminal Code, two episodes) and weapons (Article 222 of the Criminal Code), extortion (Article 163 of the Criminal Code, 6 episodes).

According to the investigation and the prosecution, in the summer of 2018, Khachatryan (Dzhambulsky) created a criminal community together with the residents of Chistopol – Ruslan Gaifullin and Airat Kamalov, which was called “Tatarinsky”. Together with other alleged members of the organized criminal group, they, the prosecution stated, were engaged in extortion from residents and entrepreneurs of the Alekseevsky and Chistopol regions. They offered them a roof in exchange for patronage, and if they refused, they allegedly acted by force. At the same time, the investigation assured that the structure of the criminal group consisted of two divisions. The first, allegedly led by Gaifullin, included Vilsur Gilfanov (litigator), Pavel Kukarin, Denis Poroshenko and “other unidentified persons.” The second, headed by the same Gaifullin together with Kamalov, is Daniil Chekurov (litigator), Oleg Gevorkyan, Denis Gorbunov, Farid Safin, Alexei Grigoriev. Ilfat Khairutdinov is also involved in the criminal case, but he was not tried for participation in the OPS. In total, according to investigators, the grouping accounted for about 15 crimes.

Gilfanov and Chekurov were tried separately from everyone – they entered into pre-trial agreements with the investigation, giving confessions in the case. Taking into account the decisions of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tajikistan, they were sentenced to 5 years and 10 months and 5 years and 8 months in prison, respectively.

“Thieves” article 210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was imputed from the entire gang only to Dzhambulsky. It implies a maximum sentence of up to 15 years in prison. According to investigators, Dzhambulsky was declared a thief in law (“crowned”) on March 10, 1997 in Moscow. He allegedly “held” the colonies of Tatarstan and the Orenburg region, appointed “regulars for zones”, “regulars outside the cities”, leading them, giving instructions personally, by phone or by means of “running kids” from places not so remote. Moreover, he allegedly acted as a kind of “arbitrator” in resolving disputes, and also personally or through subordinates controlled how “traditions, rules and norms of behavior accepted in the criminal environment” are observed.

None of the defendants pleaded guilty.

How Khachatryan was detained and how the process went

Khachatryan was detained “with fanfare” back in August 2019. By that time, he had been at large for almost a year, having been released from the Krasnoyarsk colony. A whole special operation was carried out to detain him: operatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Tatarstan and their colleagues from the central office of the department went to Orenburg, where Khachatryan was. “I just got out. To the worker boy, here he is a builder. Come out and see what he’s doing. And I see – climb. I say wait! – Khachatryan told the camera at the time of the arrest. When asked if the man considers himself a thief in law, Dzhambulsky boldly replied: “You know my name, surname and patronymic very well! I don’t know what you’re talking about, what a law! I’ve been living in lawlessness all my life.”

He was brought to Kazan and sent under arrest under the article on extortion (Article 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). And just a few days later, he became a defendant in the case under the new article “Occupation of the highest position in the criminal hierarchy” (Article 210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). It was the first case under such article in the history of Tatarstan. Investigators believe that Khachatryan received the so-called thief in law title back in 1997.

From the moment of detention to the present day, Khachatryan has been in a pre-trial detention center. The criminal case has been considered slowly since November 2021: for a year and a half, they interrogated witnesses for the prosecution, including classified ones, listened to the arguments of the defense and the defendants themselves, who made voluminous speeches. Yes, and Dzhambulsky himself, speaking at the interrogation, explained for two hours why he was innocent, and the case was fabricated. It is worth noting that thieves in law usually do not testify. To do this, there is the 51st article of the Constitution, which authorities constantly use. However, Khachatryan said that for the first time he would not use it.

During the debate, the state prosecutor requested 21 years in prison for Dzhambulsky with a fine of 1 million rubles and offered to send him to serve his sentence in a special regime colony. By the way, we note that before today’s verdict, Khachatryan was tried 6 times in his life. If we sum up all the terms (excluding the current one), the court sentenced him to 34 years of restriction and imprisonment.

In total, all defendants (together with Dzhambulsky) the state prosecution requested 133.5 years in prison. Gaifullin – 19 years old, Kamalov – 18 years old, Gevorkyan – 14 years old, Gorbunov – 12 years old, Khairutdinov – 12 years old, Grigoriev – 11 years old, Safin – 11.5 years old, Poroshenko and Kukarin – 7 years and 6 months each. For Gaifullin, Kamalov, Gevorkyan, Gorbunov, the prosecutor also requested fines ranging from 100,000 to 1 million rubles.

The last word

Two hours before Khachatryan heard his verdict, he was given the opportunity to make his final statement. He approached it philosophically: he stated that he had a lot of time to think about what to say, but he decided in the end not to say anything. And then for five minutes he explained why he made such a decision.

“I don’t want demagogy, lyricism to breed. Because whatever I say now, it has all been said many times before. The fact that I am the whole judicial process, maybe somehow looked malicious or something else – I wanted to understand more than all of you why I am here! said Dzhambulsky evenly and measuredly.

Rashid Dzhambulsky: “I have a disease – I steal all my life!”

He asked the judge to evaluate the whole process “not like a prosecutor.” According to him, the representative of the state prosecution used in the debate only those testimonies that were convenient for her, and “crossed out the facts.” “Although there were many respected people here, the prosecutor did not believe them. And they believed some drug addict, – said Khachatryan, and then made a significant remark: – Well, it’s up to you. For me, everything is clear and understandable. He was dissatisfied with the way the state prosecution handled the case. “Because such a trick was done beautifully: one prosecutor led the trial, where there were all the emotions, witnesses, and so on, Chekurov about blockbusters there … And then the prosecutor changed, who didn’t see all this, she just supported it all,” Dzhambulsky explained , however, adding that he does not hold “anger” at the prosecutor. “God bless her!”

“I will not ask for any forgiveness or indulgence, remember someone here, children and so on. We all walk under the Almighty, and I think my judgment will be there. And what will you decide … God give you strength, I know how much pressure may be on you … ”said Dzhambulsky, maintaining significant pauses, as if choosing the right words.

In the end, he stated that he would like justice. “Although I know that in this world it is very difficult to convey the truth,” the defendant again made a philosophical digression. He said that a week ago he watched TV, which talked about the decision of the court in The Hague, which issued a warrant for the “arrest” of the President of the Russian Federation. “If the verdict was passed in The Hague on the arrest of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, that he is guilty of all sins, that he should be arrested, then what can I say here if I am already suing for the 7th time?” – jokingly, said Khachatryan. At the same time, he stated that he had actually served his sentence for the charges under the “thieves'” article 210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. “Even if you pay (attention) to the same sentence, according to which I served 11 years, word for word you will find the words that I am accused of: 1997 (supposedly the year of Khachatryan’s “coronation” – ed.) and so on , And so on and so forth. I was tried for this without corpus delicti! Now, it turns out, they will judge me for the second time on this part, – he reasoned, and on this he decided to end his explanations: – Your will. I wish you all health!”

There was no OPS, “the highest position in the criminal hierarchy” was

The judge decided that there was no organized criminal community, and acquitted under Art. 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation of all defendants in the criminal case with the motivation “due to the lack of corpus delicti”. The defendants themselves stated this during the process, that there was no community, and some of them even got to know each other, they say, only after the arrest.

However, according to the “thieves” Art. 210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Occupation of the highest position in the criminal hierarchy”), the court found Khachatryan guilty. According to it, Dzhambulsky was given 13 years in a colony with restriction of freedom for 1 year. He was also found guilty of another 11 episodes of crimes. “Based on the totality of crimes, by partial addition, appoint Khachatryan a final sentence of imprisonment for a term of 18 years with serving in a special regime correctional colony with a fine of 300,000 rubles with restriction of liberty for 1 year,” the judge read out.

The court sentenced Gaifullin and Kamalov to 16 years in prison with a fine of 300,000 rubles. The latter, in addition to being acquitted under Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, was also acquitted of one episode of extortion “due to non-involvement”, recognizing his right to rehabilitation in this part.

The court sentenced Gevorkyan to 11 years in prison with a fine of 300 thousand rubles. Gorbunov – 10 years in prison, Grigoriev and Khairutdinov – 9 years in prison, Safin – 8 years. The softest terms were given to Kukarin – 4 years in prison and Poroshenko – 3 years in prison (in addition to Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, he was acquitted on the episode of fraud “due to non-involvement”, he was recognized the right to rehabilitation).

Only Kukarin and Poroshenko will serve their sentences in a penal colony. For the rest of the convicts, the court determined the place of serving the sentence in a colony of special or strict regimes. In this case, the court ruled that all convicts should count the period of their detention on the basis of a day in a pre-trial detention center – a day in a colony. For those defendants who recover in a general regime colony, a day in a pre-trial detention center – and they were taken into custody in the courtroom – will be considered 1.5 days in a colony. And house arrest (Kukarin, Poroshenko, Khairutdinov were under him) will be counted at the rate of two days under “homework” – a day in the colony.

The court also issued a private ruling against the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan, Artem Khokhorin, and the Prosecutor of the Republic of Tatarstan, Ildus Nafikov. “This ruling indicates the unsatisfactory work of law enforcement agencies – the police departments in the Chistopolsky and Aleskeyevsky districts, which, in the opinion of the court, did not take proper measures to suppress the activities and identify crimes committed by an organized criminal group,” the judge briefly retold its essence. “To draw the attention of the minister and the prosecutor to the circumstances set forth in order to take appropriate measures, about which to report to the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan,” the judge read out.

After the announcement of the verdict, Rashid Dzhambulsky seemed to stretch with relief and said something with an undisguised smile – in the general uproar that prevailed in the courtroom after the judge left, it was difficult to make out his words.

A little more than 3.5 years have passed since Khachatryan was taken into custody until today. And this means that, according to our calculations, he has about 14.5 years left to sit – if the sentence is upheld on appeal. The parties have 15 days to appeal.