| The trial of the main accused of the Russian police has begun The Moscow District Military Court (MoVS) yesterday, at an on-site session in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center, began a hearing in the case of employees of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department and the Ministry of Emergency Situations, who were declared by the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to be “werewolves in uniform.” Lieutenant General of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Valentin Ganeev and MUR officers Yuri Samolkin, Igor Ostrovsky, Evgeniy Taratorin, Nikolai Demin, Vadim Vladimirov and Alexander Breshchanov are accused of using their official position to profit from businessmen, “earning” hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Although the trial was officially declared open, FSB officers, in whose department Lefortovo is located, allowed only six media representatives into their walls; the rest were explained that the premises allocated for the trial were too small. But soon the journalists who were “happy” with the FSB were also disappointed - before it even began, the process was declared closed, and they were also removed.
It was decided to hold the trial in the pre-trial detention center “for security reasons.” In addition, one of the accused, Alexander Breshchanov, has a severe spinal injury, he is almost unable to move or even sit, and during the trial he was allowed to lie on the sofa.
All seven defendants were arrested in June 2003, and the then head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Boris Gryzlov, announced to the whole country that the gang of “werewolves in uniform” had been exposed. All were charged under seven articles of the Criminal Code - organizing a criminal community, abuse of power, extortion, possession of weapons, falsification of evidence, illegal detention and detention. GUSB and FSB officers established that since 1997, members of the police organized crime group had been planting drugs and weapons on businessmen, and then using threats and violence to extort money from them. Several “victims” were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. Two of them are certain citizens Petrosyan B.A. and Faustov S.G. -- filed civil suits against the accused, demanding compensation for moral and material damage in the amount of 1.5 million rubles. for everyone.
The indictment, in particular, states that in August 1999 the accused “falsified evidence of Faustov’s guilt in the illegal acquisition and storage of firearms and narcotic drugs,” which is why “in connection with the conscientious error of the preliminary investigation authorities, a criminal case was initiated against Faustov case, and he was sentenced to four years in prison." The same fate befell Mr. Petrosyan in 2001, receiving 1.5 years in prison. Thus, as the prosecution claims, the defendants “repeatedly committed actions in Moscow that clearly went beyond the powers of a police officer, grossly violating the requirements of the Constitution guaranteeing the rights and freedoms of man and citizen.”
The accused did not admit guilt from the very beginning. They insist on this even now. “The case is completely falsified,” Valentin Ganeev told reporters yesterday during a break in the meeting, while the victims were drawing up their claims. - I officially declare that all major officials and deputies are being monitored and wiretapped without any court sanction. For four years they “listened” and “wrote” on me, and why they did this, I’ll tell you when I get out of here. I’m innocent, that’s for sure.”
The prosecution assures that it was Ganeev, “pursuing selfish goals of personal enrichment and creating grounds for promotion, receiving awards and incentives by illegally achieving high performance indicators,” who created an organized crime group. The general himself said yesterday that all the talk about his villa in Spain and expensive foreign cars are “fables” that the Prosecutor General’s Office “leaked” to the press. The general did not recognize any of the victims, he only mentioned the general director of Almed Company LLC V.R. Reshetnikov, from whom, according to investigators, he extorted $300 thousand. “Reshetnikov owed everyone $20 million, and I was simply the most active of his creditors,” the defendant was indignant. The defense is unanimous that the case was deliberately fabricated. “Documents began to appear in the case that should have been there from the very beginning of the investigation. The decision of the Moscow Garrison Military Court to allow wiretapping of the accused has only just appeared. Prosecutors are like magicians - they pull out new evidence from their sleeves,” says Ostrovsky’s lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov.
State prosecutors Viktor Antipov and Vera Pashkovskaya demanded that the hearings be held behind closed doors, since during the process secret information about the methods of operational investigative work of the special services could be disclosed. In this matter, the defense supported the opponents, noting that during the hearing the relatives of the accused would be interrogated, and the publicity of their testimony could threaten their safety.
One of the victims, a certain Yakupov A.R., who is still in prison, asked for personal participation in the process, and in connection with the resolution of the issue of his delivery to court, a break was announced until Wednesday. Ekaterina BUTORINA |
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