Article about occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy – Omsk News

The Omsk Regional Court completed the consideration of the criminal case against 37-year-old Nikolai Chernetsov and his accomplices Ruslan Cherkasov, Pavel Vasiliev, Ilya Stadnik and Fyodor Stelmakhov.

The first was tried under the extremely rare Article 210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy. He and the others were also accused of kidnapping and extortion. In the judicial practice of our region, a thief in law is being tried for the first time.

In Omsk, for the first time, a case is being considered under the article on criminal authorities. We tell you who is being judged

A little background.

According to the prosecution, Chernetsov took the position of “overseeing” Omsk (that is, a representative of the city’s criminal world) after the death of his predecessor Alexander Melnikov, nicknamed Mel, on November 24, 2021. Investigators claim that Nikolai Chernetsov was “crowned” in Moscow under the patronage of a certain Rajik Nizhnevartovsky. They met the latter when the Omsk resident was serving time in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and showed himself well in the colony.

Chernetsov’s right-hand man or “close one” is his childhood friend Ruslan Cherkasov. Both have prison sentences behind them.

Three other defendants were also in the dock with them. The roles between them were distributed as follows. The largest of the trio, Fyodor Stelmakhov, acted as a “physicist” to intimidate. He would later tell investigators that he was caught stupidly. He expected to earn money, not get a criminal record. By the way, he is the only one in the group who did not have it before.

Two others, Ilya Stadnik and Pavel Vasiliev, were searching for fake directors for shell companies through which the common fund money was laundered. The investigation names several such LLCs: “Art”, “Anvar”, “Kaus” and “Krost”.

The formal reason for detaining them all was the story of one of these zits-chairmen, 24-year-old drug addict Yuri Shtol. For his “services” he was promised 30 thousand rubles. But the payment was slightly delayed. The guy was offended and withdrew 300 thousand rubles from the Krost company account. And he went on a spree to Sochi. When the money ran out, he returned to Omsk and decided to re-register the company, which actually did not belong to him, as his own and withdraw all the remaining money. When he came to the bank to re-register documents, he was “met” by not very positive-minded guys with an athletic build. They escorted Shtol into the car and drove him first to the cemetery, then to a garage on the outskirts of Omsk.

Stohl himself could not give evidence during the court hearings for objective reasons – by that time he had died. Therefore, his testimony given earlier, during the investigation, was read out.

Yuri claimed that he was beaten, forced to drink beer and threatened with rape.

However, the defense categorically rejects this version. According to the lawyers, all this time there were other people in the garage, the windows and doors were open. So, if a person was being beaten there, one of the passers-by would definitely notice it. They also refer to a recording from a surveillance camera in the garage, which shows that Yuri Shtol calmly moves around the garage, sits on the sofa and drinks with everyone.

Giving evidence about this day, Fyodor Stelmakhov even said that they went to a corporate event.

Nikolai Chernetsov’s mother Galina described this situation in an interview with the Om1.ru portal:

“My son was the guarantor of this money, Shtol stole it. What should he have done? He gave him a few slaps and didn’t touch him again. This can be seen on the recordings. After that, they took Stohl to the police and filed a theft report against him. But in the end, my son ended up being the accused, and the drug addict who stole the money was the victim.”

However, this reason, most likely, really turned out to be formal and turned out to be just right for the arrest. Another, more serious and much less provable article, which Chernetsov was charged with is precisely the same, rare 210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

It is relatively new, appeared in 2019. And lawyers are still wondering how expedient its introduction was. Refer to what to prove “occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy” in compliance with all the requirements and norms of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation is almost impossible. Chernetsov’s lawyer, Pavel Plekhanov, referred to this in the debate between the parties and focused on this:

“In the accusation plot of the criminal case under investigation, there is no information about how exactly Chernetsov took the highest position in the criminal hierarchy. How did this happen? Did you kiss the cross, the crown, I don’t know, swore allegiance to the lads or someone else? There is nothing. And in the protocols of interviewing witnesses there is no data that Chernetsov informed anyone, ever, anywhere and identified himself as an observer. There are no so-called runs”he emphasized.

On the other hand, the new article of the Criminal Code actually legalizes the status of “thief in law,” which was previously known only in the criminal subculture.

The judicial investigation lasted a little less than a year. On Friday, April 26, it ended with a guilty verdict.

“Five defendants have been convicted. In particular, Chernetsov was convicted of occupying a high position in the criminal hierarchy, as well as for kidnapping and extortion; in total, for all crimes, the court sentenced him to 11 years of imprisonment in a special regime colony with a restriction of freedom for one year. The remaining participants, depending on their roles, received from five to seven years in prison.”,” explained state prosecutor Dmitry Konovalov.

Let us add that during the debate, a representative of the prosecutor’s office of the Omsk region proposed to sentence Chernetsov to 16 years in a special regime colony. The prosecutor’s office will determine whether the court decision will be appealed after receiving the indictment.

As for the convicts themselves, at least several of them will definitely file appeals to a higher court through their lawyers.