The murder case of Igor Talkov. His concert director will be sentenced

The investigation into the murder of singer Igor Talkov, who was shot dead during a concert on October 6, 1991, is coming to an end in St. Petersburg. The main suspect is the musician's manager Valery Shlyafman, who fled to Israel after the incident. A verdict in this case is scheduled for April 23. How the correspondence process is going is in the Izvestia material.

The circumstances of Talkov's murder

• Talkov's murder took place backstage at the St. Petersburg Yubileyny Sports Palace, where a team concert was taking place, which was attended by popular artists at that time. Before the performance of Talkov and his band Lifebuoy, singer Aziza was supposed to take the stage, but the artist decided to switch ranks with Talkov, and she managed to come to an agreement with the organizers.

The fact that Aziza would perform directly in front of pop star Oleg Gazmanov, which was considered prestigious, did not please Shlyafman. He told Talkov that the reshuffle in the schedule was arranged by the security guard, director and lover of Aziza Igor Malakhov. During the concert, Shlyafman found him and started a conflict with him. As a warning, Malakhov pulled out a revolver of the Nagant system, which Shlyafman warned Talkov about. The musician ran out of the dressing room with a gas pistol and fired several shots, which did not harm anyone.

• After that, Talkov's guards pinned Malakhov down and knocked him to the ground, Talkov hit him with the butt of a gas pistol. Malakhov managed to fire two shots from his revolver, at the floor and at the equipment, before Shlyafman took the weapon from him. During the ongoing scuffle, a third shot rang out, which mortally wounded Talkov.

What did the investigation lead to?

At first, Malakhov was suspected of murdering the musician, who immediately fled the scene of the crime. According to the investigation, this version was actively supported by Shlyafman, testifying against Malakhov, "creating evidence" of his guilt and obstructing the investigation. The revolver from which the fatal shot was fired was hidden by Shlyafman in the drain tank.

• The examination data differed from the testimony: forensic experts concluded that the shot was fired from top to bottom, while Malakhov himself was on the floor. In February 1992, an examination of Shlyafman's shirt was carried out, which found powder traces and bloodstains on Talkov's sleeve, proving that the musician's concert director had fired the shot. At that time, Shlyafman left Russia, traveling through Ukraine to Israel, where he took the name of his new wife and became Vysotsky.

• In 2018, the case was reopened at the request of Talkov's widow. During the investigation, 150 witnesses were questioned, including pop stars and law enforcement officers who were present at the scene. The testimony in court was given by the singers Natasha Koroleva and Aziza, who was with Talkov and Malakhov at the time of the shooting. She said that she found a pistol hidden by Shlyafman and returned it to Malakhov, who later disposed of the weapon.

What is the charge against Shlyafman?

In May 1992, Shlyafman was charged in absentia with negligent homicide (Article 106 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR). Russian investigators were unable to interrogate Shlyafman in the Israeli city of Ramat Gan, where he was hiding, due to the lack of a legal assistance agreement with Israel. In 2022, the case was reclassified, adding charges of attempted murder, and Shlyafman was arrested in absentia and put on the international wanted list.

• The prosecution insists that Shlyafman had the intention to kill Malakhov, but by pure chance the bullet intended for him hit Talkov. Therefore, the former concert director is being tried on charges of premeditated murder under aggravating circumstances and attempted premeditated murder committed in a socially dangerous manner (paragraph "d" of Article 102 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR and Article 15, paragraph "d" of Article 102 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR). A court in absentia can sentence Shlyafman to 14 years in a penal colony.

• In August 2024, Shlyafman was nevertheless interrogated in Israel by local law enforcement agencies upon request for international legal assistance. The materials of the executed order were sent to the Russian court. During the interrogation, Shlyafman denied his guilt.

• The extradition of Shlyafman to Russia is theoretically possible, since Israel, like Russia, is a party to the multilateral European Convention on Extradition. But the Israeli side can refer to the expiration of the statute of limitations. While in Russia the statute of limitations for such cases can be determined by a court, in Israel, even for the most serious and high-profile murders, it does not exceed 20 years.

What is known about Shlyafman

Shlyafman became Igor Talkov's concert director in August 1991, just over a month before the musician's murder. Prior to that, he was the concert director of singer Lyudmila Senchina. There is a version that it was Senchina who recommended Talkov to hire Shlyafman.

Vladislav Chernyaev, Talkov's guard and close friend, described Shlyafman as a conflicted man who sought to turn any dispute into a fight. Talkov was warned that such cooperation was dangerous, first of all, for the musician himself. Talkov agreed with these arguments, but at the time of the concert at the Jubilee, Shlyafman continued to work for him.