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The Leader And Members of a Criminal Group Who Committed the Murder of Seven People Have Been Sentenced in Irkutsk Oblast

The evidence collected by the investigating authorities of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for Irkutsk Oblast have been recognized by the court as sufficient for sentencing three men,  the leader and members of an organized criminal group. Depending on the role of each, they have been found guilty of committing crimes under Paragraphs a, g, h, Part 2, Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (murder of two or more persons committed by an organized group, for selfish motives), Part 3, Article 30, Paragraphs g, h, Part 2, Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (attempted murder committed by an organized group, for selfish motives).

The investigators and the court have found that since 2000, a criminal group led by three men had been operating in Taishetsky Raion of Irkutsk Oblast. In the period 2000-2003, the organized criminal group took an active part in the redistribution of spheres of criminal influence in the city of Taishet, physically eliminating the leaders and members of opposing criminal gangs.

In early March 2001, members of an organized criminal group murdered the leader of another criminal group, he had owned a large logging organization. The attackers shot him dead. A few months later, another crime boss was dealt with in a similar way.

Cold-blooded and cynical crimes continued in June 2002. Then following the instructions of the leaders, several members of the organized criminal group planned the murder of the son of the previously murdered owner of the logging business. The man was ambushed by one of the accused near the entrance of his house and got a shot, but the bullet hit his arm, after which the man managed to escape from the gangsters.

The organized crime group had been planning the next crime for several months. They prepared a UAZ off-road vehicle, axes, knives, handcuffs and other items.  In early December 2002, four members of a criminal group, disguised as police officers, broke into one of the apartments, in which at that time there were five active members of another criminal group. The perpetrators kidnapped the victims, after tying them up, and took them to the banks of the Biryusa River, where they committed murder, dismembered the bodies and threw them into the river’s gully.

Investigators of the Investigative Committee of Russia have found that all these crimes were of an organized nature, were carefully planned, surveillance was established for the victims, their phones were tapped. The accused applied careful measures of conspiracy and concealment of traces of the crime. Basically, all of the crimes were committed by the gangsters disguised as police officers. 

During the preliminary investigation of the criminal case, a colossal amount of work was carried out: about 50 inspections of the crime scenes (during which, among other things, firearms, ammunition and explosives were seized), more than 320 interrogations, 17 searches, including at the place of residence of the defendants in the criminal case, about 70 complex expert studies.

The other day the jury delivered a verdict on the guilt of the defendants. The Irkutsk Regional Court sentenced the men to between 9 and 25 years in prison. All convicts will serve their sentences in a strict regime penal colony.