"A Suitable Corpse"

The head of the Stupino Metallurgical Plant has been charged with murder

The head of the Stupino Metallurgical Company (SMK), Alexander Shoror, as Vremya Novostei learned, was charged last week with organizing the murder. According to investigators, he “ordered” the director of the Sochi boarding house “Podmoskovye”, owned by the Stupino plant.

Vladimir Efvryushkin was brutally murdered in 2002, beaten to death with baseball bats. One of the found perpetrators of the murder allegedly testified that it was Shoror who was the organizer of this crime. The defense, in turn, claims that the case was fabricated in the interests of competitors of the head of the metallurgical plant, who repeatedly tried to eliminate him and take over the enterprise.

As the Vremya Novostey newspaper has already reported (see issue dated December 13, 2005) , Alexander Shoror was detained on December 8 right at the Main Investigation Department (GSU) of the Moscow Region Central Internal Affairs Directorate under very strange circumstances. On that day he was supposed to have a meeting with the acting. Head of the Main Investigation Department Alexander Voronin. “The reason for the meeting was three criminal cases of illegal intrusions into the plant, which were opened by the State Investigative Directorate based on Mr. Shoror’s statements, but for unknown reasons no investigative actions were taken,” Shoror’s lawyer Pavel Terentyevsky told Vremya Novostey. — The indignant Shoror repeatedly wrote complaints to the regional prosecutor’s office, the State Duma and even the presidential administration, pointing out that a corruption group had formed in the Central Internal Affairs Directorate and some law enforcement officers had entered into a conspiracy with Mr. Shoror’s competitors. And therefore they refuse to properly investigate his statements.” However, Mr. Shoror did not leave the building of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate. That same evening he was informed that he was suspected of organizing the murder of the director of the Sochi boarding house “Podmoskovye” Vladimir Efvryushkin. For this purpose, an investigator from the Sochi prosecutor’s office specially came to Moscow, and together with him Mr. Shoror was sent to Sochi in a special convoy. The next day, the Sochi city court issued a sanction for a 10-day arrest of the entrepreneur pending charges. And on December 15, as lawyer Andrei Danilyan reported, official charges were filed.

The head of the SMK himself did not admit guilt and stated that he had nothing to do with the murder. As Mr. Shoror’s lawyers said, Mr. Efvryushkin held the post of director of the boarding house, was not its owner and did not pose any threat to QMS. “If Efvryushkin, for some reason, became disliked by the plant’s management, he would simply be fired,” said lawyer Terentyevsky. And, according to the lawyer, many people could have reasons for killing Efvryushkin. “Efvryushkin was the son of the head of the Sochi police department. In addition, he was a member of the city municipal assembly and was responsible for the distribution of retail outlets. In this capacity, he could interfere with anyone, but not SMK,” says Mr. Terentyevsky. According to him, in his testimony, Mr. Shoror indicated that he considers this case fabricated by his competitors - Yugoslav citizen Savva Kujunzhich and the former head of City-Energo Andrei Khovanov. The latter, by the way, is on the international wanted list on charges of bribing witnesses and falsifying evidence. “Mr. Khovanov repeatedly tried to accuse the head of the QMS of committing criminal offenses, but in the end he himself became the accused. Judge of the Kuzminsky District Court Lyubov Rumyantseva, two days before the expiration of the arrest period, changed the preventive measure to a written undertaking not to leave, and Khovanov immediately went abroad. After this, Ms. Rumyantseva was deprived of her powers as a judge,” said Mr. Terentyevsky. Alexander Shoror is a deputy of the Stupino municipality, and his arrest could only be carried out with the sanction of the prosecutor of the Moscow region or Krasnodar region, but there was no such sanction, according to lawyers. “This once again confirms the ordered nature of this case. Alexander Shoror became a bone in the throat of some law enforcement officials, and they removed him. The tragedy of this situation is that in this way anyone can be removed; for everyone there will be a “suitable corpse,” said lawyer Terentyevsky.

Ekaterina BUTORINA