“Goryachev gave the order to kill”

The interrogation of a witness in the case of the "Combat Organization of Russian Nationalists" Yevgenia Khasis, convicted of the murder of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova, took place in the Moscow Regional Court

The Moscow Regional Court continued hearings in the case of BORN, one of the most brutal nationalist groups, which has more than a dozen victims. On Thursday, November 20, the second, key witness for the prosecution, Yevgenia Khasis, who had already been convicted of murdering lawyer Stanislav Markelov and Novaya Gazeta journalist Anastasia Baburova, appeared in court. In this process, she is a witness, despite the fact that one of the organizers of the group, Nikita Tikhonov, confirmed yesterday during interrogation that weapons for BORN were bought, including with the money of Khasis. Tikhonov also said that he attracted her to spy on Stanislav Markelov and the alleged member of the Black Hawks gang Rasul Khalilov.

Khasis came to the meeting in civilian clothes - gray jeans and a sweater, with her hair loose, she was in a separate aquarium from the rest of the defendants, in her hands - a diary with the abstracts of the speech. Answering questions, she looked at the written pages.

During the two months spent in the Moscow pre-trial detention center, where Khasis was transferred from Mordovia to participate in the process, she had enough time to prepare. Her speech was like a carefully prepared speech or essay. Without stuttering, confidently, with thoughtful preparations, prisoner Khasis spoke about the BORN organization.

According to Khasis, this story is well known to her - both from Tikhonov's roommate and from Goryachev, with whom "I have the displeasure to be acquainted, unfortunately, my fate is closely intertwined with the defendants." Ilya Goryachev, according to Tikhonov, needed an organization of radical nationalists like BORN to blackmail the authorities - the presidential administration's department for domestic policy, which oversaw the political activities of Russian Obraz, refused to support Goryachev's political ambitions and his idea to create a party. A splash of radical violence would help Goryachev to attract the attention of the authorities. “Youth policy was then led by Vladislav Surkov, and Goryachev’s curator was Leonid Simunin, the former head of the Local movement (he no longer works in the Presidential Administration, he was recently found in the DPR, where he deals with energy issues - ed.). This is very important, these people will then create an underground organization,” Khasis said.

But Goryachev could not create such an organization on his own, emphasizes Khasis. “He is an intellectual, he knows how to talk to people, to manipulate, but among the fighters he did not enjoy authority at all. He needed someone from this environment,” the neo-Nazi continues. - Nikita Tikhonov became such a person. Goryachev gave him orders, Tikhonov found people and carried out the order. Goryachev personally decided who to kill.

“He could not refuse,” witness Tikhonov justifies, “since 2007 he was on an illegal immigrant (wanted for the murder of Alexander Ryukhin in 2006 - ed.). Goryachev promised to solve all of Tikhonov's problems with the law - provided that he commits radical violence. “This is a strange scheme,” Khasis nods, “but look, the same thing is happening in Ukraine – a certain Yarosh, monstrous from the point of view of you and me – normal people – is buying a deputy mandate with Kolomoisky’s money! Goryachev essentially offered the same thing to Tikhonov.

According to Khasis, Tikhonov was not supposed to tell those whom he involves in crimes about Goryachev - that was his condition "for security reasons." By this she explains that the defendants are unfamiliar with Goryachev - they have only heard about him. The witness herself is personally acquainted with only two of them - with Volkov ("he is an old friend of Tikhonov, back in nationalist groups in the early 2000s"), with Isaev - they saw each other several times, Khasis only heard about Tikhomirov and Baklagin from Tikhonov. The neo-Nazi was familiar with another active member of BORN - Alexei Korshunov, "a fanatical person." It was he who attracted the defendants, who were called northern ones, to the gang - they are from Dubna.

Khasis repeatedly repeats and focuses on the fact that "Goryachev gave the order to kill" - this is the main thesis of her testimony. She briefly went through the episodes that she knew - the murder of Filatov in 2008, revenge on a guest worker for the murder of a schoolgirl, the murder of Khalilov, Dzhaparidze and Khutorsky in 2009.

According to Khasis, she was aware of Goryachev's plans to organize several more high-profile murders: a priest, lawyer Vadim Klyuvgant, an FSB officer. By the way, Tikhonov refused the latter. “I am not a murderer, I am a revolutionary,” he told Goryachev. The BORN members allegedly committed all the murders not for money, like mercenaries, but for ideological reasons, Khasis confirmed the motive from the indictment.