The "kindness" is to blame

The court sentenced to members of the gang, attacking gays in St. Petersburg. Reporting Daniil Turovsky

On October 18, 2016, the Krasnogvardeisky District Court of St. Petersburg sentenced two members of the group of “Hunters for homosexuals”: ​​one of them received two years and three months of prison, the other was sentenced to two years conditionally and released in the courtroom. They got acquainted with gays on the Internet, lured them on dacha, beat and extorted money. Typically, the victims did not apply to the police, fearing forced camming art. One of the people whom the attackers forced to pay 49 thousand rubles in January, nevertheless went to the police. At least three accomplices of the crime are still free. The Special Corps of Medusa Daniil Turovsky, who already wrote about the group, got acquainted with the materials of the criminal case and restored the chronicle of events.

To hunt homosexuals, Peter Kulikov was offered in an ordinary sandwich on Nevsky Prospekt. It was the end of December 2015, there were New Year's holidays ahead; Eighteen -year -old Kulikov came to the meeting after lessons at school.

In the institution he was expected by Julia Semkina. Before that, he saw her only once - a couple of weeks before, at the end of November 2015, when a new acquaintance brought him to a friend from a nightclub.

Semkina invited Kulikova to earn extra money according to an unusual scheme. Together with acquaintances, the girl found victims in the Hornet Gay Application, corresponded with them on behalf of an attractive guy and offered to meet. Already in the place when a person began to undress, several men entered the room; They scared the victim, accused the molestation of supposedly a minor, beaten, extorted money. Kulikov was supposed to play the role of a “bait”: to call up and meet with the victim, to accompany to the apartment and arrange so that the man undressed.

Kulikov agreed.

Money instead of ideology

Julia Semkina at that time was 28 years old. She has secondary education - the girl had “even” relations with classmates, she went to additional music classes (hereinafter - the information from the criminal case, which is at the disposal of “Medusa”). After school, she worked as a personnel manager, cashier, seller. In 2005, Semkina married, but "the relationship was complicated, [the couple] conflicts because of her husband's betrayal." When the marriage broke up in 2007, Semkina called her father to say goodbye and “took pills with suicidal goal” - “everything that was in a home medicine cabinet.”

In 2009, the girl was treated in a psychiatric hospital for a month, she was diagnosed with “hysterical disorder” (Semkin did not apply for more psychiatric aid). By the time she suggested Kulikov to join the group, Semkina did not officially work anywhere-because of this, the investigation will later consider that the extortion of homosexuals was her main earnings (in the court on October 5, 2016, the girl said that she worked under the contract for her personnel manager and received 70 thousand rubles).

The page of Semkina in VKontakte is not particularly noteworthy: in audio recordings - Zemfira, Leningrad, Bianca; On the wall - pictures with cats and photographs where she poses next to cars. In the interests - nothing that could give out the right -wing views in the owner of the right -handed views: neither homophobic groups, nor communities in support of Maxim Martsinkevich . At the same time, the group in which she consisted exactly repeated the methods used by activists of the dissolved movement “Occupy-Pedophilay” -only without ideology: at the meetings they interrogated the victims about their savings, and did not try to force them to admit and repent of their orientation. Human rights defenders from the Outceps indicated that "now [after the defeat of" Occupy-Pedophilay "] these are just gangster groups that take the opportunity to blackmail vulnerable people."

In addition to Semkina, her friend and roommate, 26-year-old Ilya Vasiliev, participated in the attacks. He graduated from nine classes and was condemned twice. In 2011, he was detained with drugs - 700 grams of “oxylic acid salt” (Pinocchio drug). At the time of his detention, he tried to give a bribe to let him go. He had no money with him, he called his grandmother and asked to bring 35 thousand rubles to the detention site. In the first case, he was sentenced to three years of conclusion, in the second - for an attempt to capture law enforcement officers - was given two years conditionally.

In addition to Semkina, Vasiliev and the recruit of Kulikov in the group there were several more men-everything is from St. Petersburg and the closest Kolpino to him. So, according to Kulikov’s stories, a certain Ilya Grekhovodov participated in the attacks, whom everyone called “sin”; He told the young man that he used to work in the police, from where he was fired for drug storage. In addition to him, a certain role in the group was played by a certain Eugene, who wore camouflage and a holster with a gun. The police failed to find accomplices Semkina and Vasiliev.

Human rights activists from the “exit” believe that all these people are only a large group cell. This was confirmed by Medusa and a source close to the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of St. Petersburg. He said that in the grouping “gay hunters” about 20 people of different ages - mainly men from 18 to 45 years old. The first attacks occurred in March 2015; Most often, the "hunters" acted on weekends, they managed to extort the amounts of up to 100 thousand rubles.

Peter Kulikov took part in three attacks.

Meeting on the street of mentors

Semkina in the group was responsible for renting apartments for fake dates. On January 15, 2016, she found on Avito a suitable apartment on 34 mentors Street, in the east of St. Petersburg. The owner of the apartment later told the investigators that Semkina seemed to her “inspiring”.

The next day, Kulikov arrived in a rented apartment, where Semkina handed him the phone number of the next victim. They phoned and agreed to meet in a few hours.

At about seven in the evening, a tall brunette Cyril came to the house (the name changed). He thought that he was meeting with Anton (such a name was indicated in the Hornet questionnaire); The man was striking that Kulikov was dressed like a typical football fan - in a sports raincoat and short trousers.

In the apartment, Anton immediately began to cling to Cyril - he answered the offer to begin to drink wine in the kitchen. While the men drank, Anton called the mobile phone twice. A few minutes later, the front door was opened on the outside, and five people entered the kitchen - Vasiliev, Semkin and "three people not established by the investigation." One of them introduced himself as an activist of the "Public Organization" "Kindness". " “Fighting like you,” he said. Kulikov at that moment left the kitchen and locked himself in the bathroom.

Unknown faces behaved tough with Cyril. One of them stated that Anton was not eighteen. Cyril was searched, he found two bank cards. They called Semkin to the room and presented her as a "journalist who would take everything about you."

Semkina asked questions regarding the financial situation of a man: she asked about work, trips abroad, cars. One of her accomplices said that he would call the police right now if Cyril does not pay them 500 thousand rubles. He hit him on the back of his head and leg. Another man showed Cyril the sewing needle and threatened that he would stick it into his eye; The following was followed by the threat to force him and photograph it with naked. Cyril agreed to pay 200 thousand rubles - 50 thousand at once, 150 thousand the next day.

He was forced to finish the wine that he brought and brought out into the street. There he got on the nearest bus and left.

Kulikov sat in the bathroom for about an hour and a half. At about nine in the evening, Semkina told him that you can go out. He paid 4 thousand rubles for the work of the bait.

Arrest instead of a wedding

In Russia, things are rarely investigated against homosexuals - the victims do not turn to the police, fearing publicity. Cyril recorded beatings the next day after the attack. He was diagnosed with a bruise of soft tissues of the back of the head, hematoma and abrasion on the right lower leg.

Two days later, on January 19, the man wrote a statement in the police station in the Krasnogvardeisky district of St. Petersburg. In particular, he informed the investigation of the phone numbers from which he was called the group members.

A month later, a criminal investigation officer sent Cyril several screenshots of pages on VKontakte. Among them, the man recognized Semkin. Investigator Andrei Doshin sent him a link to the girl’s profile, and there Kirill found Peter Kulikov. The investigator said that, as part of the operational-search event (horde), the investigators found out that Semkina’s telephone was at the crime at the attack.

On February 19, the police opened a criminal case under part 2 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“robbery committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy”), and a month later, on March 24, Destroyed Kulikov. At the first interrogation, he agreed to cooperate with the investigation and promised to tell everything that he knew about the group, “having informed the role of each participant” (nevertheless, the personality of three of his accomplices could not establish). A measure of restraint by the young man chose a non -departure subscription.

At this time, Semkina and Vasiliev were preparing for the wedding. In their social networks, they posted invitations to the ceremony on April 12 at the St. Petersburg wedding palace No. 1, Vasiliev in his account put a photograph of an invitation instead of an avatar.

A source close to the investigation told Medusa that investigators specially waited for the wedding day. They detained "gay hunters" a couple of hours before registration. Semkina and Vasiliev refused to testify and were sent to the pre -trial detention center.

In May 2016, the investigator Doshin instructed the investigators to find another member of the group Ilya Grekhovodov-to check the address of his residence permit, his page on VKontakte, IP addresses, from which he lasted on social network. Grekhovodov was not found at the desired address, law enforcement officers were not responded from VKontakte; There is no criminal case in the materials of the criminal case that the police took advantage of the SORM system, which allows us to track user correspondence. The representative of the KED Office explained to Medusa that ordinary police officers could not access SORM - for this they need to contact the FSB, and they do not like to contact representatives of the department once again. Grekhovodov’s page in VKontakte, which Ilya Vasiliev is signed, can be found now; It is periodically updated, the last post reads: "Some children are the best advertising of condoms."

In July 2016, after the charge of Semkin and Vasiliev, they found guilt and agreed to a special procedure for considering the case. Their relatives refused to communicate with Medusa.

"I treat them normally"

At a court hearing on September 8, 2016, Cyril demanded that Kulikov are appointed to Kulikov as a punishment for a long time for prison. “It is necessary to take into account as an aggravating circumstances the commission of a crime due to hatred for a certain social group, persons of non -traditional orientation,” he said.

“I want to ask for forgiveness! - said Kulikov in response. - I thought we caught pedophiles. I have no hatred of homosexuals, I am normally treated with them. ”

“He is lying that they caught pedophiles. When we met, he said that he was 19 years old, ”said Cyril.

“I could not say so! I was eighteen. "

The prosecutor considered Kulikov’s cooperation with a mitigating circumstance and asked him for three years of imprisonment. The court found him guilty and appointed two years conditionally without a fine.

After the detention of Kulikov, Semkina and Vasiliev, the attack on homosexuals according to the same extortion scheme did not stop. "Medusa" is known about the same cases in Moscow and St. Petersburg; The last of them occurred at the end of September. None of the victims is going to submit an application to the police, fearing publicity. One of the victims told Medusa that she would decide whether to submit an application after Semkina and Vasilieva were sentenced. “The court decision will be familiar to action. Or [to inaction], ”he said.

Several homosexuals who turned to human rights activists from the “exit” for help were identified in one of Peter Kulikov’s friends in VKontakte another “bait”. It was this man who introduced Kulikov with Semkina after a party in a nightclub in November 2015. According to Cyril, Kulikov’s friend was summoned for a conversation in the police, but he rejected all the accusations, and he was released. When Medusa turned to the alleged “bait” for comments, he deleted his page on VKontakte.

* * *

On October 18, 2016, the Krasnogvardeisky District Court of St. Petersburg sentenced Julia Semkin to two years. The girl was released in the courtroom. Ilya Vasiliev, who was previously convicted of other cases, received two years and three months of prison. Leaving the courtroom, he threw to Cyril: "You will die, ****** [member of the]."

Daniil Turovsky

Petersburg-Moscow