Russian Supreme Court approves life sentence for ex-official of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug for organizing murders

The Supreme Court of Russia upheld the verdict of Yuri Chekin, the former head of the control and audit department of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation for the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug (Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug), who was sentenced to life in prison for organizing the murder of district Prosecutor Yuri Bederin and two entrepreneurs. This was reported on March 19 by a correspondent of Izvestia.

The investigation revealed that in 1993, the defendant stole more than 15 million rubles. In June 2000, he ordered the murder of Prosecutor Bederin, motivated by revenge for his intention to bring Chekin to justice for fraud. A month later, Bederin was shot dead in the entrance of his house. In addition, in 1996, Chekin acted as a customer for the murder of one of his acquaintances, and in 1998 he organized the murder of a resident of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.

After the murder of Prosecutor Chekin, he was put on the international wanted list. He had been hiding for more than 20 years, and in recent years, before his arrest, he lived in a rented apartment in Khanty-Mansiysk, hardly left the house and did not use documents.

In July 2024, the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug court sentenced Chekin to life in a special-regime penal colony. At the same time, the convict's lawyer, Zhanna Zelenkova, then called the verdict "very harsh" and stated that the defense intends to seek a full acquittal of the defendant. In October 2021, Chekin was detained.

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