Tagansky Theater: leaders of Moscow's oldest organized crime group were asked for 25-year terms

Igor Zhirnokleev, whom the prosecution considers to be the leader of the Taganskaya organized crime group, asked the Moscow City Court not to sentence him to 25 years in prison, which is exactly the term requested by the prosecutor. The other nine defendants in the case also told the court that if convicted, they would "not live" to be released. Almost all of the "Tagansky" men who found themselves in the dock are now over 60 years old, and the investigation considers them involved in numerous murders and episodes of banditry that occurred in the 90s and 00s. The alleged members of the oldest Moscow organized crime group have pleaded not guilty. Testifying during the trial, they said that they had worked honestly all these years and congratulated the court on the upcoming Easter. Who the Taganskys are and what victims they have on their account are in the Izvestia article.

What is imputed to "Tagansky"

The prosecutor requested from 23 to 25 years in prison for the alleged members of the Taganskaya organized crime group, the oldest Moscow group operating in the Moscow region since the early 90s. The prosecutor announced such deadlines during the debate of the parties in the Moscow City Court on April 16.

There are ten defendants in the dock, whom the prosecution considers to be involved in banditry, numerous murders and robberies. All of them, including the leader of the organized criminal group Igor Zhirnokleev, were found guilty by a jury in March of this year of serious and especially serious crimes committed in the capital in the 90s and 00s.

Among the episodes imputed to him are several particularly brutal murders, for example, Valery Zhuravlev, CEO of Rospishcheprom, businessmen Armen Avanesov, Alexey Pokrovsky, Andrei Bralyuk, lawyer at the Moscow department store, and Natalia Vavilina.

Gang leader Igor Zhirnokleev and his right-hand man Grigory Rabinovich were arrested in January 2019. The accused in the case were ordinary members of the group — Oleg Rusanov, Boris Tretyak, Dmitry Yukhnevich, Igor Balashov, German Grishin, Gennady Lukyanov, Sergey Shcherbakov, Sergey Shchukarev and Marat Yanbukhtin.

The case was submitted to the Moscow City Court in July 2021. As the representative of the prosecution told the court, traditionally the Taganskys gathered at the Transcarpathian Patterns restaurant in the Tagansky district of Moscow. Hence the name of the organized crime group.

"The arsenal of the organized criminal group created in the early 90s included grenade launchers, F-1 and RGD-5 grenades, ten AK-74 assault rifles, two M-61 Scorpion submachine guns, five rifles, nine revolvers, pistols and other weapons, as well as ammunition for it. The gang operated mainly in the Moscow region," the Prosecutor General's Office said.

Who killed Hasan's grandfather

Starting in 2021, the Tagansky trial was interrupted after just two months due to a lack of jurors. The collegiums were dissolved twice. The verdict in the case was handed down by the third panel of the jury, it took almost four hours to announce it.

All the defendants were found guilty, depending on the role of each of them in the organized criminal group: creation and participation in an armed gang and criminal community, murder, kidnapping, theft, robbery, extortion and illegal trafficking of weapons and explosives. This was reported by the Prosecutor General's Office, which approved the indictment in the case.

The jury found Dmitry Yukhnevich guilty of the murder of businessman Alexei Pokrovsky, but taking into account mitigating circumstances. The jury questioned the involvement of Gennady Lukyanov and Sergey Shcherbakov in this crime. Valery Zhuravlev Yukhnevich was acquitted of the murder of Rospishcheprom CEO.

In addition, the jury unanimously found all the defendants guilty of creating an organized criminal group or participating in it. They also established that Igor Zhirnokleev was the leader of the group. He was found guilty of organizing the murder of lawyer Natalia Vavilina, who was shot dead in the entrance of her own house.

In addition, Zhirnokleev was found guilty of complicity in the murder of crime boss Aslan Usoyan (Grandfather Hassan). The murder occurred on January 16, 2013, when Ded Hassan was shot dead at the entrance to the Old Phaeton restaurant on Povarskaya Street. The jury found that Zhirnokleev transferred weapons to the killers.

All the gang members were found guilty of illegal possession of weapons, and Zhirnokleev, Rabinovich and Rusanov were also found guilty of making explosive devices. Several members of the group also forged disability documents and "fraudulently stole money allocated from the budget for monthly and one-time social payments to persons with disabilities," the Prosecutor General's Office noted. So they stole more than 4 million rubles.

One of the Tagansky leaders, Grigory Rabinovich, known in criminal circles as "Grisha Tagansky," was found guilty posthumously by a jury — on June 26, 2024, he died in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center in Moscow. The investigators were ready to drop the case, but Rabinovich's relatives objected, hoping for an acquittal by the jury and subsequent rehabilitation.

What lawsuits have the victims filed against Tagansky?

The total amount of lawsuits filed by the victims against Tagansky amounted to almost 1 billion rubles. The largest one, for 500 million, was filed by the daughter of Valery Zhuravlev, CEO of Rospishcheprom, who was killed in 2008. The lawyers asked the court to lower her claims.

The civil claim of the victim Maryam Bikchurina, who worked as a waitress at the Old Phaeton restaurant, amounted to 50 million rubles. Of these, 20 million rubles — moral damage, 30 million — material damage.

On the day of the murder, the woman met Hasan's grandfather at the entrance to the restaurant and was injured. Maryam Bikchurina suffered a spinal cord injury with complete damage to her lower extremities. She participated in the meeting via video link, sitting in a wheelchair. The woman told the court that she had been treated in China for six months and twice in Turkey and demanded to be reimbursed for her medical expenses.

The wife, son and daughter of businessman Alexei Pokrovsky, who was killed in the early 2000s, filed three lawsuits against the defendants totaling 300 million rubles.

Armen Avanesov's son, who was killed for not paying Igor Zhirnokleev a debt of $50,000, also sued for 100 million rubles. The widow of Andrei Bralyuk, a lawyer at the Moscow department store, who was killed in 2009, filed a lawsuit for 5 million rubles.

Zhirnokleev's lawyer asked the court to take into account the defendant's age — 67 years — and leave his wife's apartment to him, "since this is his only home." He noted that the seized property and money are enough to pay off the victims' claims.

Zhirnokleev in his last word asked the court not to sentence him to the time requested by the prosecutor. He stated that he had "worked for 35 years, had not committed any crimes," and asked the court to acquit him.

"I'm 67 years old, I have 11 chronic diseases, I won't live for 25 years anyway," he said. — And out of them, 12 years of strict regime — it would have been better if I had been shot. These are torture conditions.

What did the participants of the organized criminal group say

Some of the defendants asked to be acquitted. For example, Igor Balashov told the court that he voluntarily left the gang back in 2008.

— I ask you to take into account my exit 17 years ago, — he addressed the court.

The defendant Dmitry Yukhnevich tried to prove to the court that he had no time for crimes, because he was "constantly drinking."

"All the witnesses said I was a drunk, with a bottle of cognac everywhere, playing cards," he said. — I've been drinking and drinking everywhere, I even have a certificate. Are we eternal in such terms? I am 57 years old now.

In his last words, the "veteran" of the Tagan crime scene congratulated everyone on the upcoming Easter and prayed "for humanity and mercy."

German Grishin's lawyer stated that his client "was a tram driver and could in no way be associated with an organized criminal group."

The defendants' lawyers insisted that the statute of limitations on some articles had long since expired. It was the statute of limitations that allowed the Tagans to live in peace all these years in the hope that justice would not overtake them, Alexey Gavrishev, head of AVG Legal, suggested in a conversation with Izvestia.

— However, I think that the prosecution was able to prove that the statute of limitations does not apply in their case, — said the lawyer.

At a time when organized criminal groups like Taganskaya existed, our legal system left much to be desired, former investigator Alexei Borodakov told Izvestia.

"The witnesses of those crimes were intimidated, they were afraid to testify against the bandits, they feared for their lives and their loved ones," he said. — Therefore, for many years, members of such groups could remain at large.

With the development of digital technologies and expertise, the participants of such organized criminal groups find themselves in the dock one by one, the lawyer concluded.