A lesson from a long time ago: ex-head of Lokomotiv was convicted in a murder case in 2002

Sergei Lipatov, the former head of the board of directors of the Lokomotiv football club, was sentenced to 10 years in a high‑security penal colony in a case of incitement and complicity in murder. According to the materials, he paid for the removal of an ex-subordinate due to a financial conflict. The perpetrators were members of a gang that included former military and law enforcement officers. Lawyers expressed confusion about the verdict, considering it too lenient: in their opinion, if Lipatov had paid for the murder, he should have been recognized as the organizer. For more information, see the Izvestia article.

The case of Sergei Lipatov

On February 27, the Odintsovo City Court of the Moscow Region sentenced Sergey Lipatov, the former head of the board of directors of the Lokomotiv football club. He was found guilty of incitement and complicity in the murder that took place in March 2002. The court decided that the man should spend 10 years in a strict regime penal colony.

According to the investigation, Sergei Lipatov paid $200,000 for the murder of Alexander Fominov, director of the Inyurconsult law firm and adviser to the head of the Ministry of Railways of the Russian Federation. The crime was committed by members of Pavel Khristev's organized criminal group. The gang consisted of former military and security officials, and was known for executing orders to eliminate businessmen. She has about 40 such murders to her credit.

"On March 15, 2002, Alexey Chebotarev, in collaboration with Pavel Khristev, Nikolai Trushkov, Oleg Mikhalev and Leonid Rakogon, committed the murder of Fominov at the Agrarnik cooperative in Odintsovo district by shooting him with a pistol at least four times," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

Currently, the 2nd Western District Military Court is considering the case of 11 people who were associated with Khristev's organized crime group. According to investigators, from 2000 to 2004, they killed 13 people, and five more survived the attack. Some victims were killed by mistake: in 2000, instead of a businessman, his driver was killed.

The murder of Alexander Fominov

Before taking up the position of adviser to the First Deputy Minister of Railways, Alexander Fominov worked in the legal department of Gamma-Method Company, headed by Sergey Lipatov. In 2002, when Lipatov and Fominov no longer worked together, they had a financial conflict.

Sergei Lipatov, through his security service, contacted Leonid Rakogon, an employee of the Regional Department for Combating Organized Crime, in order to find the killers. This follows from the materials of the confrontation, which are available to Izvestia. At about the same time, Oleg Mikhalev, a former FSB officer, was transferred to the department where Leonid Rakogon worked, who said that he had acquaintances who were ready to fulfill the order. And it was he who passed the information to one of them, Pavel Khristev, a member of the organized crime group.

During the confrontation, Leonid Rakogon said that during a personal meeting, Sergei Lipatov gave him the victim's address, car number and photo. Rakogon handed over this information to Mikhalev, and took the bag with the money for the planned murder personally from Lipatov's office.

On March 15, 2002, Alexander Fominov was driving to a cottage located in the Agrarnik cooperative in Odintsovo district. On the way, his car was stopped by one of the executors of the order. Fominov was shot four times from a passing car. He died from his injuries.

No suspects in the murder were immediately identified. 20 years later, investigators began arresting members of Khristev's organized crime group. And the gang members entered into an agreement with the investigation, extraditing not only the perpetrators of the murders, but also the customers. That's how Sergei Lipatov ended up in the dock.

During the confrontation, he denied all charges.

— It is possible that Rakon did not come to the office for money to my employee or at my call. I have nothing more to add," the accused told the investigators.

A lenient sentence

Sergei Lipatov was tried under Article 105 "Murder". It carries a penalty of eight to 20 years in prison. Vadim Bagaturia, a lawyer and former investigator of the prosecutor's office, called the sentence unjustifiably lenient.

— As a citizen, this term surprises me, because in our country they give more for economic crimes. And here is the murder of a man, committed by contract for money. Ten years is just a mockery of justice," he believes.

The lawyer called the appointed deadline a triumph of defense and a loss of justice.

— In this situation, I am surprised by the leniency of the sentence, because the murder was committed out of mercenary motives, for hire. The person paid $200,000," Vadim Bagaturia added.

However, Maxim Kalinov, a lawyer and former investigator of the Investigative Committee, believes that the sentence is quite harsh — in his practice, those accused of murder received four to five years in prison.

"As a rule, people who commit murder but admit guilt and have other mitigating circumstances get six to seven years, but not ten," he told Izvestia. — That's a lot for incitement, I think.

But lawyer Nikolai Semenov called the verdict adequate on charges of incitement to murder.

— But ten years is not enough for the organizer of a contract killing. Most likely, the convict was not a direct customer, but contributed to the murder," he told Izvestia.

At the same time, Maxim Kalinov expressed bewilderment why Lipatov was not recognized as the organizer of the crime, if he paid money to commit the murder.