News

Sverdlovsk Region investigating bodies of the Russia’s Investigative Committee have resumed criminal proceeding against 42-year-old resident of the city of Nizhny Tagil. The man accused of committing crimes while being a member of Shirokov-Arkhipov gang (named after its leaders) escaped from investigators in 90s and was apprehended on 13 December 2013 in the city of Sochi, where he had been living for some time past.

The man was detained during operations carried out by the officers of crime detection department of the office for internal affairs of the city of Belgorod. After being detained the man was transported in Yekaterinburg, where an investigator of the Investigative Committee read him a court decision passed earlier (in September 1995) and which ruled to name him as defendant. This way the man is charged with the crimes under article 77 of the RSFSR Penal Code (banditry) and paragraph “a” of article 102 of the RF Penal Code (murder out of mercenary interest).

According to investigators, while being a member of the gang, at night on 5 August 1995, the accused was an accomplice in the murder of the man from Pervouralsk, whose activity was hampering financial interests of the gang. Investigators believe that the perpetrators had prepared carefully for this especially serious crime and used firearms for it. At the moment a number of investigating measures are underway to find all the circumstances of the crimes the man committed while having been in the gang. The court on the investigator’s petition has ruled to place the accused in custody as a pre-trial restraining measure. Investigation is ongoing.

It should be noted that the gang of Alexey Shirokov and Georgy Arkhopov acted between 1992 and 1995. At first it had 15 people. However some time later the gang members killed some their buddies. After all the active gang members had been detained, there were 7 people in the prisoner’s box, who were charged with several murders, robberies, extortions and explosion of a plane at the airport in Budapest. The investigators found that the accused had over 15 pieces of firearms, grenades and explosive materials in their arsenal. The court sentenced the gang members to long terms in prison.