News

A court has recognized the evidence collected by the Moscow Region Office of the Investigative Committee as sufficient to convict three ex-cons from Mytishchi: Vladimir Sadovnikov, 61, Andrei Zotov, 49 and Eduard Belogorodov, 46. Depending on the role of each one, they were found guilty of banditry under parts 1 and 2 of Article 209, murder of two people due to their profession or civil duty committed by an organized group for mercenary motives and aggravated by banditry under Part 2, items “a”, “b”, “g” and “h” of Article 105, extortion under Part 3 of Article 163, illegal purchase, transfer, storage, transportation, carrying of firearms, its main parts or ammunition under Part 3 of Article 222, deliberate infliction of medium bodily harm under part 2, items “b” and “d” of Article 112 and illegal purchase and storage of drugs without intention to sell under Part 2 of Article 228 of the RF Penal Code.

The court and investigators have revealed that the accused were members of a gang set up in July 2006 by a notary of the city of Moscow and Sadovnikov. The main aim of the gang was to control the activity of notaries in the towns of Puzhkino and Ivanteyevka, Moscow Region to get regular illegal income from their fares for notary operations, to incline notaries to commit wrongdoings and conclude illegal transactions, to force notaries step down to make vacancies and to appoint their retinues and to get money from citizens.

On 3 July 2008, gangsters killed the president of the Moscow Region Notary’s Chamber and executive director of the said chamber in a residential building in Baranova Street in the town of Solnechnogorsk. Zotov was detained in October 2008, Sadovnikov and Beloborodov in November 2009.

The court has sentenced Sadovnikov to 22 years in a maximum-security correctional facility, Beloborodov to 12 years in a special-security correctional facility and Zotov to 17 years in a maximum-security correctional facility.

Earlier the court sentenced Sergei Sarayev to 10 years in a maximum-security correctional facility as he had cut a plea bargain and his case was severed to form a separate lawsuit as was the one against the organizer of the gang.