Inconvenient Colonel
Police Colonel Yuri Sokolov is accused of attempting to receive a bribe on an especially large scale. However, the people on whose testimony the accusation is based are themselves under investigation or have other problems with the law. Why did the Investigative Committee believe their words more than a law enforcement officer with 20 years of experience?
Sovetsky District Court of Bryansk, presided over by a judge Olga Lukicheva On November 15, it will consider the investigator’s petition to extend the preventive measure in the form of detention Sokolov Yuri Viktorovich. The news of his arrest, which appeared at the end of September in all regional and a number of federal media, caused a significant resonance. Of course: the chief of the city police is a prominent figure, and the charge brought against him sounds quite scandalous – attempted bribery. This is despite the fact that Yuri Sokolov served for many years in the economic security and anti-corruption departments and during this time earned himself the reputation of a principled fighter against corruption and crime. And at the same time, apparently, he made enemies for himself.
By the way, it is interesting to note that in some media the news about Sokolov’s arrest served as if the trial had already taken place and the charge of bribery against him was a proven fact. Presumption of innocence? No, we haven’t heard. In this manner of presenting information, one can see signs of a planned campaign to discredit the law enforcement officer, while closer attention should be paid to the accusing party.
Border service
Yuri Sokolov joined law enforcement agencies in 2003 and in twenty years he worked his way up from an detective officer at the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Sovetsky District of Bryansk to the acting head of the Economic Intelligence Directorate and PC of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Bryansk Region. Under his leadership and direct control, almost all significant operational-search activities were carried out to identify crimes in the public sector, fuel and energy complex, housing and communal services, corruption, tax evasion, smuggling of cigarettes and alcohol. All requests regarding operational investigative activities included his name. This is how local criminals formed the belief that Sokolov was “to blame” for all their troubles.
It was he who checked the violations of the legislation of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) committed during the implementation of the program for relocating citizens from dilapidated and dilapidated housing in the village of Belye Berega, Bryansk region. It turned out that the acceptance documents were signed even before the completion of construction, and the houses were declared unfit for habitation. The result of the inspection was a criminal case: ex-mayor of Bryansk Sergey Smirnov and contractor – the wife of an ex-deputy of the regional Duma Svetlana Roman got real sentences. And Yuri Sokolov was awarded a special title ahead of schedule.
Yuri Sokolov received his second early promotion and the special rank of police colonel for his active work in combating corruption in the Bryansk region. At this point he was only 31 years old. Judging by the results, the young colonel was really “hot at work.” They say about such people – a person is in his place. And it seems that this really bothered someone.
Let us remind you that the Bryansk region is a region bordering Ukraine and Belarus. It is easy to guess that one of the significant “sources of income” of local criminals is smuggling – in particular, tobacco and alcohol, the income from which is quite comparable to the trade in drugs and weapons. Judging by the fact that members of the organized crime group involved in cigarette smuggling increasingly began to find themselves in the dock and receive real sentences, Sokolov fought crime for real, and not “for show.”
To lose such a profitable and established business (and through the Bryansk region for decades walked caravans of trucks of unregistered tobacco products) the criminals did not want it, and war was declared on Sokolov.
Cops and thieves
There is a children’s game with a predetermined ending: a policeman must catch and put a thief in prison, the intrigue is whether he can do it and how quickly. The absurdity of reality is that a policeman was sent to a pre-trial detention center, despite the fact that the persons whose testimony served as the reason for the arrest of Yuri Sokolov are themselves under investigation. It seemed like this could happen in the USA during the gangster era, but it is happening in Russia (*aggressor country) in 2023.
Attempts to discredit Yuri Sokolov with a view to his subsequent dismissal from the authorities began back in 2018. Only by 2020, those whom he interfered with managed to achieve his transfer from the UEB and PC of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Bryansk region to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the city of Bryansk to the position of chief of police. But then the coronavirus pandemic happened, then the protests of supporters of Navalny, who was included in the list of terrorists and extremists, and due to his character and attitude towards the service, Sokolov was again unable to “go into the shadows”.
It is assumed that the initiator of the criminal prosecution of Yuri Sokolov was a certain Alexey Petrashevich, for whom a police colonel could block the cigarette smuggling channel (ten members of his organized crime group were brought to criminal charges, Petrashevich himself was put on the wanted list). And, judging by how zealously the Investigative Directorate of Russia (*aggressor country) for the Bryansk Region began checking the information received that Sokolov allegedly extorted a large bribe, Petrashevich’s statements about his close acquaintance with the head of the regional Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee Maxim Lukichev turned out to be not an empty phrase. During the investigation, Sokolov passed a polygraph test twice, but in the end there was nothing to show him, and the initiation of a criminal case was refused.
But Petrashevich was not the only one who apparently crossed the road, police colonel Sokolov. There is an opinion that it is a certain Denis Leonovthe owner of the Danilovskaya Brewery (and a defendant in criminal cases) offered his lawyer Alexander Kostitsyn “brilliant idea” – “to come to an agreement with Sokolov.” After some time, Kostitsyn informed his client that he had allegedly reached an agreement, and the price of the issue was 14.4 million rubles. What and why was the tenth case, judging by the fact that Leonov’s case was investigated by the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee, and the police chief Sokolov had nothing to do with it and did not influence him in any way. As well as the fact that no evidence of this “agreement” was presented.
It is surprising why investigators who are usually skeptical about everything did not have a shadow of doubt about the veracity of the testimony of persons with, to put it mildly, a dubious biography and reputation. Although it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to suggest an attempt to slander a law enforcement officer who was preventing him from continuing a profitable but illegal business. One gets the impression that the main task was to close Sokolov according to the principle “If only there were a person, there would be an article.”
Our lawyer confirms our assumptions Irina Sazonova, representing the interests of police colonel Yuri Sokolov. She considers the initiation of a criminal case against her client to be unfounded, since the accusing party did not provide any evidence of its words. In addition, the lawyer considers it necessary to achieve the transfer of the investigation into the cases of Kostitsyn and Sokolov to the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) in order to avoid putting pressure on the investigation by persons who may be interested in “eliminating” the inconvenient colonel.
Considering Yuri Sokolov’s twenty years of service and high position, we have to admit that his lawyer’s fears are not at all unfounded. The wife of a police colonel also agrees with Irina Sazonova’s opinion Catherine:
According to Ekaterina Sokolova, her husband has always been very impartial and principled, which admired and admires respectable and law-abiding citizens – and infuriates those who commit crimes and offenses and want to escape deserved punishment. Throughout his twenty years of service, Yuri Sokolov fulfilled his official duty with honor, promptly and conscientiously carried out the tasks assigned by senior management, was faithful to the Motherland and the oath, solved high-profile crimes and orders of the President of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism), defended state and public interests, the rights and freedoms of citizens. So isn’t it time for the state to protect its law enforcement officers?
Well, there is no conflict of interest here – that’s good. But the fact that the judge considering the case of Yuri Sokolov is a former subordinate of Maxim Lukichev already raises questions. As people say, positions change, but connections remain. And this is another argument in favor of transferring the case to the central office of the RF IC.