"Werewolves" in law

The verdict of the participants in the case of corruption in law enforcement agencies came into force

Last Friday, the verdict in the scandalous case of “werewolves in uniform” - former EMERCOM general Vladimir Ganeev and MUR employees Yuri Samolkin, Nikolai Demin, Vadim Vladimirov, Igor Ostrovsky, Evgeniy Taratorin and Alexander Breshchanov - came into force. Having considered their cassation appeals, in which the defendants demanded that the earlier sentence of the Moscow District Military Court (MDC) be overturned as unfair and that they themselves be acquitted, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized their claims as unfounded. At the same time, the court slightly adjusted the wording of the charges, due to which all convicted persons had their sentences reduced by two to three years.

The scandalous case of corruption in law enforcement agencies began on June 23, 2003, when several hundred employees of the Prosecutor General's Office, the FSB and the Main Directorate of Internal Security (GUSB) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation simultaneously carried out a series of arrests and searches. Even when the operation was just beginning, the then head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Boris Gryzlov, announced with pomp that its targets were “werewolves in uniform” - intelligence officers involved in criminal business.

According to investigators, the former head of the security service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, General Ganeev and two employees of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department - Colonels Samolkin and Lysakov (the latter is still wanted) - organized a criminal community back in the mid-90s, which included about a dozen more employees MUR. According to the prosecutor's office, they were engaged in extorting money and providing protection for commercial structures under the threat of violence and criminal prosecution. For those who did not agree to cooperate with them, the police planted weapons or drugs and fabricated evidence, on the basis of which people went to prison. During the operation against “werewolves,” investigators seized several million dollars and “black accounting” from the suspects - records of who and how much money they received, etc.

The trial on the “main” case of “werewolves” began in March 2005. The visiting board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs examined him under conditions of increased security measures directly in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center. Then, according to investigators, the “backbone” of the criminal community in the person of General Ganeev and six MUR employees was in the dock (some members of the gang were detained later, and their trial is still ongoing; several more remain wanted). The verdict was announced on September 6 last year. All defendants were found fully guilty of creating a criminal community and participating in it, abuse of power, illegal transactions with weapons and drugs, extortion, falsification of evidence and illegal detentions. The court sentenced Ganeev and Samolkin to 20 years in prison each, Demin to 18 years, Taratorin, Ostrovsky and Vladimirov to 16 years each, Breshchanov to 15 years in prison. In addition, the MOVS deprived all convicted persons of titles and state awards.

The defendants themselves and their lawyers immediately declared their determination to protest the verdict of the Moscow Criminal Court, calling the trial an “imitation of justice.” In their cassation appeals to the Supreme Court (SC), they asked to dismiss the case against them “for lack of evidence.” The defense of the Murovites insisted that all the evidence against them that appeared in the case was collected or processed in violation of criminal procedural norms, and therefore should be considered null and void.

The Military Collegium of the Supreme Court, however, did not find any serious shortcomings in the MOVS verdict, recognizing that the guilt of the defendants “for the majority of the alleged criminal acts is confirmed.” At the same time, the court slightly changed the qualifications of some charges. Thus, the Supreme Court terminated the criminal case against General Ganeev under Art. 191 (illegal trafficking in precious metals and precious stones), since the statute of limitations for this crime has expired. In addition, the charge of complicity in drug trafficking was dropped against him. Similar adjustments affected the charges against all other defendants. As a result, the Supreme Court considered it possible to slightly reduce the sentences of the convicted: Ganeev and Samolkin - to 18 years in prison, Demin - to 16 years, Vladimirov and Ostrovsky - to 14, and Taratorin and Breshchanov - to 13 years.

After this decision, the verdict in the case of “werewolves in uniform” came into force. Although the convicts and their lawyers can once again try to appeal it by way of supervision to the Presidium of the Supreme Court. In addition, even earlier, the lawyers of the convicted did not exclude the possibility of appealing to the European Court of Human Rights.

Alexey GRISHIN