The Nizhny Novgorod thief in law was convicted under the article on occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy; tattoos are proof

The Nizhny Novgorod Regional Court found Igor Novikov, known under the name Novik, guilty of occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy (Article 210 of the Criminal Code) and sentenced him to 10 years in a maximum security colony. This was reported by the joint press service of the regional courts.

Evidence of his guilt included tattoos, recordings of telephone conversations, correspondence and objects with “thieves’” symbols. Also, Novikov’s acquaintances, employees of the pre-trial detention center and the criminal investigation department, described the convict as the most “influential thief in the region,” writes Kommersant.

Novikov was arrested in this case in November 2019. He received his first conviction in 1977, then he was sentenced to two years in prison for theft, and later another two and a half were added for robbery. According to the publication, Novikov spent a total of 20 years in prison, having been convicted of robbery, hooliganism, drug possession and theft of documents.

In 1999, Novikov was assigned to be the keeper of traditions and the head of the “common fund”, after which he was given tattoos on his left leg with images of a Roman warrior, and a temple with seven domes (according to the number of convictions) was tattooed on his back. The picture is made against the backdrop of the crucified Christ, which symbolizes the holiness of the actions of the owner of the tattoo, Kommersant clarified.

Experts accepted these images as one of the proofs that Novikov is a thief in law, since others cannot apply similar tattoos to themselves. Also, during a search of the convict’s house in Lyskovo, a rosary was found with the inscription “Life for thieves. Eternal honor and dignity" and an engraved knife. The prosecution talked about postcards in which Novikov wrote “Life for thieves, praise for tramps”, “The thieves’ luck”.

As Kommersant writes, the convict did not admit his guilt, he called the tattoos Orthodox, but, according to a witness from the Federal Penitentiary Service, when asked whether he was a thief in law, he answered: “I was born one.”