The court sentenced the person involved in the criminal hierarchy case to 16 years in a penal colony.

The Moscow Regional Court found Vitaly Toake guilty of occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy, and he was sentenced to 16 years in a special regime penal colony. This was reported on September 3 by a correspondent of Izvestia.

In addition, Toake, also known as Vitaly Ramensky, was found guilty of six counts of extortion committed by an organized group. The defense intends to appeal the verdict.

According to investigators, Toake was a member of a criminal community led by the "thief in law" Oleg Medvedev, nicknamed Shishkan. The Ramenskoye organized criminal group under the leadership of Medvedev is charged with a number of serious and especially serious crimes, including murder, extortion, injury to health, illegal possession of firearms and others. In June 2024, Shishkan was sentenced to life in prison, and his 17 accomplices received sentences ranging from probation to life.

Speaking in court on August 8, Toake stated that he did not have a criminal status, and stressed that he did not know the meaning of the term "posenets", the existence of which he learned only after entering the pre-trial detention center. He also added that he was not familiar with Shishkan — according to Toake, he had seen him only once when he was playing football.

Dmitry Belyshkov, the convict's lawyer, considered the charge against him unfounded and stated that there was no objective evidence that his client occupied the highest position in the criminal hierarchy in court.

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On July 3, criminal boss Zaur Shipilov was detained in Moscow. Later, on July 4, a court in Orenburg arrested the man and sent him into custody until September 3. It was noted that he was accused of committing a crime under Article 210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy").

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