Attacked the light: ex-colonel confessed to the murder of journalist Maximov
The St. Petersburg journalist Maxim Maximov, who disappeared in 2004, was looking for evidence of a bribery system set up by former Interior Ministry Colonel Mikhail Smirnov and his colleagues before he disappeared, sources familiar with the investigation told Izvestia. Smirnov confessed to the journalist's murder 20 years later - on December 18, 2024. He indicated the approximate place where he buried the body - the search there has been going on for several days, but so far to no avail. Details of the massacre of Maximov and its motives - in the material "Izvestia".
The disappearance of the journalist was solved 20 years later
In the forest belt near the village of Beloostrov near St. Petersburg, police officers have been searching for the body of Maxim Maximov, a journalist of the Fontanka newspaper and the Agency for Investigative Journalism, who was murdered in 2004. The approximate place of burial was indicated by one of his killers - ex-colonel of the Interior Ministry Mikhail Smirnov. He confessed to the crime on December 18 of this year.
In 2004 Smirnov was the head of the anti-corruption department of the North-West Department for Combating Economic Crimes of the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region. Maxim Maximov disappeared on June 29, 2004. On the eve of his disappearance, he was collecting information about Smirnov's activities, in particular about his possible involvement in bribery schemes, said a source close to the investigation, according to Izvestia.
According to another source, Smirnov learned about Maksimov back in 1999 when he read an article by the journalist questioning the results of his work. Subsequently, there were other critical articles by Maximov about Smirnov.
According to Izvestia's source, in 2003 Maxim Maximov was approached by the wife of the former deputy chief of Pulkovo Customs. At that time, her employee Fedorov was detained for a bribe by Mikhail Smirnov's subordinates.
- Fedorov was sentenced to eight years," said the interlocutor of the newspaper. - His property was not subject to seizure, so the wife of the customs officer appealed to the police with a request to return her husband's Mercedes-Benz 300. However, by that time Smirnov had already sold the foreign car under a forged power of attorney for $5 thousand.
The journalist agreed to help and started an investigation. Gathering evidence, he found evidence that Smirnov and his subordinates had taken bribes.
- Maximov personally called Smirnov and asked him to comment on the situation," the source said. - The policeman hid from the reporter under various pretexts, but when it became clear that he would not leave the investigation, he decided to plan his murder.
Another source said that some time before the murder Maximov and Smirnov met in the office of the latter. Having gotten to know each other, they exchanged opinions, but each remained in his own opinion.
It was at that moment that Smirnov had a plan to kill Maximov, admitted the ex-colonel himself, follows from the protocols of his interrogations, part of which is at the disposal of Izvestia.
"I could not convince Maximov of my non-involvement in provoking bribes ... [and I] made the decision to kill him, " Smirnov said during his testimony.
According to eyewitnesses' recollections, the last time his colleagues saw Maximov was in the St. Petersburg City Court at the hearings on the murder of deputy Galina Starovoitova.
According to the investigation materials cited by Izvestia's source, some time later Smirnov approached his acquaintance Andrei Isaev, deputy editor-in-chief of the Russian Joker magazine, asking him to contact Maximov and offer him a job in a certain "Moscow project." To do this, the journalist was asked to come to the office located at 26 Furstadskaya Street. Smirnov and three other people were waiting for him there - an operative named Pyatov and two police agents, former convicts.
- Maximov was hit on the head with a pipe," the source said.
Protocols of Smirnov's interrogation say that the journalist's face "turned into a mess."
"A rope was thrown over the Swedish wall and Maximov was suspended... A polyethylene bag was thrown over his head, as his face was disfigured ," Smirnov told the interrogation.
Then the murdered journalist was taken outside the city and buried in a forest belt.
On July 10, 2004, a case on the journalist's disappearance was opened on the statement of Maximov's mother, who arrived from Germany, and on July 14 of the same year the prosecutor of the Central District of the city opened a murder case. Twenty years later, Smirnov confessed to the murder. This happened during the investigation of another crime.
The first murder in which Smirnov was suspected
In May 2024, 60-year-old Mikhail Smirnov was detained in St. Petersburg on suspicion of involvement in the organization of a car bombing with three passengers in June 1998, the Russian Investigative Committee said on December 23. At that time, Igor Malkin, general director of the Baltic Shipyard JSC, his deputy Vladimir Serikov and driver Mikhail Petukhov were killed.
"The organizer of the murder Mikhail Smirnov has been detained, in respect of whom a measure of restraint in the form of detention has been chosen," the report says.
Detention of a man suspected of organizing a murder in 1998
The case was investigated by the 1st department for investigation of especially important cases of the GSU for St. Petersburg.
"The accused Smirnov gave a confession during interrogation," the Investigative Committee said.
According to the Investigative Committee, on the road to the Turukhtannye Islands, three accomplices disguised as police officers stopped a car with factory workers. Then, distracting the attention of the car's passengers, one of the accomplices placed an explosive device under the driver's seat, which they detonated remotely after the car left.
In April and November 2024, the customer and accomplice of the crime were detained, two more accomplices have died so far, the agency added.
Mikhail Smirnov pleaded guilty to both crimes, the sources said. He is now in pre-trial detention.
Lawyers interviewed by "Izvestia" believe that Smirnov confesses in an attempt to mitigate the possible punishment.
The mastermind behind the murder, Mikhail Smirnov.
-Mikhail Smirnov could have chosen confession as a defense strategy, which is stipulated by the Criminal Code, which states that remorse and confession are mitigating circumstances," said lawyer Mikhail Tatarenok of Tatarenok & Partners. - On the other hand, there is a possibility that this step could have been dictated by the desire to avoid a more severe punishment associated with the charge under the article on the organization of a criminal association.
Nevertheless, denial of liability under Art. 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation may turn out to be very difficult, believes lawyer Oksana Nikitina.
- If the investigation collects sufficient evidence of Smirnov's role in the organization of a criminal association, he is unlikely to be able to avoid responsibility. A confession of guilt in another crime (for example, murder) does not cancel the charge under the article on organizing a criminal association," she said.
Currently, Smirnov faces a sentence of six to 15 years under the charged articles, reminded Mikhail Tatarenok. If it is proved that the crime was committed with aggravating circumstances, the term may increase.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
