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Members of gang jailed in Stavropol Territory

A court has recognized the evidence gathered by the North-Caucasian Federal District Directorate of the Investigative Committee as sufficient to convict residents of Stavropol Territory Gennady Demchenko, Aleksei Didenko and Timur Shuanov. They were found guilty of felonies committed by an organized armed group (gang) connected with bank robberies and illegal circulation of firearms.

The court and investigators have revealed that organizer of the 11 April 2016 attack on Novosiletskoye District police station Zaur Akayev adopted radical Islamic views while serving time for another crime. After release, he planned the attack on the police station to kill police officers and get hold of their guns. He involved Ramazan Khaibulayev and Isaia Abdulatipov in the crime. Together they found guns and made an improvised explosive device. During the attack, not being able to get inside the police station, the gangsters threw hand grenades into the windows and then set off explosive belts they were wearing. All of them were killed by the explosion.

The charges against Akayev, Khaibulayev and Abdulatipov were dropped due to their death and with consent of their families.

The investigators in active conjunction with operative services of regional branches of the Federal Security Service and the Interior Ministry identified Demchenko and Shuanov as the ones who had sold to Akayev RGO, RGN and RGD hand grenades in early 2016 which he then used in the attack.

The investigators also found that Demchenko and Didenko had been involved in a number of other felonies, including three bank robberies committed by a gang in April 2016 in the town of Stavropol.

All the cases over crimes committed by Demchenko, Didenko and Shuanov, including those taken over from the police, were filed in a single lawsuit, while the accused were charged on 15 counts.

The Stavropol Territory Court has sentenced Demchenko, Didenko and Shuanov to 20 years in a super-maximum facility, 17 years in a super-maximum facility and 3.5 in a penal colony settlement respectively.