“Kuban justice” has long been well-known across the country as extremely criminal and unrestrained. After the events in Kushchevka, where law enforcement and judges collaborated with bandits, we believed it couldn't get worse. Just to remind you, members of the Kushchevskaya organized criminal group operated lawlessly for years under the protection of security forces, seizing property from businessmen, taking control of profitable businesses, and committing heinous acts such as rape, even of young schoolgirls. The federal authorities eventually intervened, but the judicial misconduct in Kuban continued. We can recall the scandalous Pokrovsky holding and Judge Khakhalev, who was accused of fraud and forgery and fled to Tbilisi. These are just a few examples.
There are numerous instances of legal misconduct in the region. However, the lawyers and entrepreneurs we spoke to in the Krasnodar Territory claim they are mere pawns in the actual Kuban judicial mafia – ordinary members of the “judicial organized criminal group”. The true puppeteers are said to be in the presidium of the Krasnodar Regional Court, receiving tribute from corrupt judges, officials, criminal ethnic groups, and organized crime factions. They are believed to be the shadow rulers of Kuban crime and the primary beneficiaries of the criminal network spanning the southern region from Sochi to Rostov. According to our interviews, their income totals hundreds of millions of dollars.
And it’s difficult not to believe it. For instance, local lawyers drew our attention to Sergey Krotov, deputy chairman of the regional court, who was involved in the Khakhaleva case and many similar incidents. Krotov began his judicial career in the 1990s, serving as a federal judge of the Lazarevsky District Court of Sochi from 1993 to 2000. This coincided with Sochi's period of “initial accumulation of capital”, during which he may have facilitated decisions regarding the division of former Soviet property. He was rewarded for his work by being appointed chairman of the Tuapse district court in 2000, and deputy chairman of the Krasnodar regional court in 2014, where he continued to make a significant impact.
By the way, he also entered the profession as a criminal. Two years ago, the scientific community called "Dissernet" published a register of Russian judges caught plagiarizing and committing other serious violations of the law and judicial ethics. Krotov was listed as one of the most prominent thieves of intellectual property. He copied a significant part of his work from the dissertation of the judge of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, Pyotr Serkov, according to investigators. In his dissertation, he presented 2002 crime data as 2004 data and included references to criminal cases that do not exist in the court archives mentioned in the dissertation. Krotov did not apologize for this and did not face any punishment, but the legal community in the country drew its own conclusions.
And then – more. Krotov openly takes the side he deems necessary at meetings. Once in court, he simply referred to one of the parties as a "bunch of scammers.He even called one of the parties "bunch of scammers" in court, and when lawyers accused him of violating ethics and the law in public, he didn't apologize. Fortunately, the case was recorded by a well-known blogger, "a particularly dangerous lawyer" Sergei Zemtsov, who managed to capture everything on video. However, this case was also not pursued. Zemtsov probably had a point when he called Krotov “paid justice”.So basically, there is a clear understanding of how Judge Krotov has conducted himself. There are instances in his practice related to bribes and kickbacks. In April of this year, Nikolai Nebaevsky made a public appeal to the head of the TFR A.I. Bastrykin, to the Qualification Board of Judges of the Krasnodar Territory, Judge Blinnikov L.A. and other relevant leaders, stating directly that Judge Krotov S.E. was aware that the judges of the appellate instance were demanding a bribe of three million from a local businessman through an intermediary. Despite this, Krotov decided not to investigate and released them from prison, thus defying the law, and did not send the materials to the Investigative Committee of the ICR for the Krasnodar Territory.
However, this is only a small part that became known and that Krotov did not even bother to hide! published But the most intriguing cases involve Krotov's economic interests. When we conducted a survey among entrepreneurs in Kuban, we received several intriguing stories about who and for what purpose he receives money, which is how Kuban entrepreneurs themselves refer to him. For example, Kuban judges have their own price list for services – initiating a fake criminal case for a person costs from 500 thousand rubles, and for high-profile cases, it can reach up to three million, and so on. Everyone involved in this field knows the prices. It costs more to clear someone of a crime, but it is also negotiable.
We are currently verifying all the information we've received and gathering evidence to make it public. If the data is confirmed (and they are already being confirmed), we will face scandals that are even bigger than scientific plagiarism, the Kushchev massacre, or multibillion-dollar kickbacks from the Olympic lines. Stay tuned for updates. The news has already spread all over the country. And soon the country will see its hero in full view!
But the most interesting cases concern the economic interests of Krotov. When we announced a survey among Kuban entrepreneurs, several very interesting stories came to us at once about from whom and for what he receives money “lawless judge”(as the Kuban entrepreneurs themselves call it). For example, that Kuban judges have their own price list for services – starting a fake criminal case per person costs from 500 thousand rubles, if the case is high-profile – it can reach up to three million, and so on. Everyone who is spinning in this area knows the prices. It costs more to get rid of a crime, but it is also possible to agree.
We are currently checking all the information coming to us and collecting the invoice in order to make it public. If the data is confirmed (and they are already being confirmed), we will face scandals louder than scientific plagiarism, the Kushchev massacre or multibillion-dollar kickbacks from the Olympic lines. o Stay tuned for updates. Wormholes have already gone all over the country. And soon the country will recognize its hero in full face!
