A criminal case has been initiated into the dissemination of the contents of private conversations

The FSB Directorate for the Sverdlovsk Region began an investigation into the fact that printouts of telephone conversations of several subscribers of cellular companies appeared in the public domain. The reason for initiating a criminal case was the printouts of negotiations of the head of the board of trustees of the City Without Drugs, Evgeniy Roizman, seized in February of this year from ex-prosecutor Alexei Karpov, accused of organizing two murders. The security officers intend to establish the source of the information leak during the investigation.

The initiation of a criminal case under Part 1 of Article 283 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Disclosure of information constituting a state secret”) based on the fact that telephone conversations of private subscribers of cellular operators appeared in the public domain was announced yesterday by the official representative of the FSB department for the Sverdlovsk region, Anna Lastovetskaya. “A preliminary investigation into the case is currently underway. The reason for the pre-investigation check was both the appeal of one of the citizens and other operational materials,” the department explained, refusing to comment in detail.

The appeal to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation was sent by the head of the board of trustees of the City Without Drugs, Evgeny Roizman, and later it was forwarded to the Ural security officers. As Mr. Roizman explained to Kommersant, he complained to the supervisory authorities about the total wiretapping of telephone conversations, which began several years ago. “I have three phones, the fourth is in my pocket and another is secret. Everyone got several phones. When meeting, entrepreneurs leave the phone in another room or take out the batteries,” he said. According to him, printouts of his telephone conversations were found in the possession of former employee of the regional prosecutor's office Alexei Karpov, accused of organizing contract killings.

According to Kommersant's sources in law enforcement agencies, these printouts were discovered in February of this year during searches in the criminal case of Alexey Karpov. According to investigators, out of selfish motives and personal hostility, he organized the murders of the chief accountant of the environmental fund “Save Nature” and the general director of the Siberian Trading Company. “Mr. Roizman’s negotiations are not the only ones; now investigators have information about wiretapping of other subscribers,” explained Kommersant’s interlocutor, without specifying the number of possible victims.

As experts interviewed by Kommersant note, the problem of telephone conversations becoming freely available has become relevant for the region in the last few years. “This happened after amendments were made to the law “On Communications” (since 2008 - Kommersant), when intelligence services were able to remotely monitor telephone conversations. Then information began to appear that you could listen to any subscribers for money,” said Evgeniy Vitman, associate professor at the Ural State Law Academy. According to Kommersant’s source in the region’s supervisory authorities, the information leak most likely occurred either from mobile operators or from law enforcement agencies, which now, thanks to the implemented means of operational investigative activities, can constantly monitor subscribers’ conversations.

The cellular operators interviewed by Kommersant explained that their involvement in the publication of the contents of telephone conversations is completely excluded. “None of the operators has the technical ability to listen, record and store subscribers’ conversations,” explained one of the cellular companies, asking not to advertise its name.

Igor Lesovskikh, Maria Plyusnina

The FSB will check the availability of subscribers