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So called night governor of Saint Petersburg Vladimir Barsukov and his accomplices jailed

A court has recognized the evidence gathered by the Head Office of the Investigative Committee sufficient to convict the leader of the so-called Tambovsky criminal community Vladimir Barsukov and his accomplices Vyacheslav Drokov, Aleksandr Mrkulov and Aleksandr Korpushov. Based on the verdict of the jury, depending on the role of each one they were found guilty of a murder, complicity in and attempted murder (Part 2 of Article 105, Part 5 of Article 33, Part 3 of Article 30, Article 105 of the RF Penal Code).

The court and investigators have revealed that after an unsuccessful attempt to take over Petersburg Oil Terminal Vladimir Barsukov and Vyacheslav Drokov set up an organized armed group to kill one of the actual co-owners of the terminal so that they could take over the his assets after he was dead. On the afternoon of 5 May 2006, the accomplices gunned down two cars with the businessman and his security inside on Levashovsky avenue in Saint Petersburg. One of the bodyguards was killed, the other victims were wounded.

9 more people involved in the crime, including the killers – brothers Oleg and Andrei Mikhalyov were convicted. One of them, convicted in absentia is now hiding in Great Britain, however, the British competent bodies refused to extradite him to the Russian Federation. This way, by meticulous work the investigators managed to restore the whole picture of the crime bit by bit and to bring to justice all those involved in the crime – from organizers to perpetrators and accomplices and determined the role each of them had played in the crime.

The court has sentenced Barsukov to 23 years in a maximum-security correctional facility and a fine of 1 million rubles. Drokov got 20 years in a maximum-security correctional facility and a fine of 1 million rubles and Korpushov to 10.5 years in a maximum-security correctional facility. Merkulov got 4 years in prison. In addition, the court has granted the civil action filed by the victim and levied 1 million rubles from Barsukov, 1 million rubles from Drokov and 500,000 rubles from Korpushov.

Head of Media Relations                                                                                                                           V.I. Markin