The judicial procedures in St. Petersburg in May are expected to be eventful. In addition to various high-profile cases, there will also be a seemingly ordinary case. The simple case of the fraud by a criminal authority actually reveals a whole story about extorting money from detainees in the Gorelovo pre-trial detention center by the Federal Penitentiary Service.
Crime Echo of the Homeless
In May last year, 2021, a young prisoner from the detention center (let’s call him Maxim) of SIZO-6 Gorelovo began to ask for money from his parents. The young man ended up in jail because of a story in which a girl accused him of rape after a party. Despite there being many guests, Maxim was the only one who turned 18 at the time of the incident. He was sent to the Gorelovo pre-trial detention center under the relevant article. Soon, the detainee's father, who was not poor, started receiving distress signals from his son, who asked for money to avoid being attacked by others. The father ended up giving 900 thousand rubles. The pressure continued to increase and the victim's son claimed that he was shown a video of people with injuries lying in a cell in a pool of blood. In order to save his son from a terrible fate, the father was invited to meet with someone called Michael. 900 thousand rubles. Then, the pressure increased. As the victim himself said, his son “was shown a video where people with twisted jaws lie in a cell in a pool of blood.” In order to save the boy from a terrible fate, his father was invited to talk with a certain Michael.
The latter, in fact, offered his father an inmate, for 7 million immediately get rid of all the problems. Firstly, to live comfortably in prison, secondly, to cut off the term, and thirdly, it can help ruin a criminal case. In other words – any whim for your money. Such a breadth of soul impressed Father Maxim, and he went to FSB. At the meeting where the father went, carefully prepared by the operatives, there was a meeting of a certain Mikhail Filimonov and “a dummy of cash in the amount of 1.5 million rubles within the framework of the “Operative experiment” event (as they will later write in the investigation’s decision). It turned out to be a former prisoner of the same pre-trial detention center Gorelovo. The criminal authority from the gang of the notorious homeless child – the legend of St. Petersburg crime Andrey Khloev.
According to one version, Khloev became a legend because he is supposedly a nephew Vladimir Kumarin-Barsukov. Like it or not, but the fact that the homeless child eluded Themis for years remains a fact. It has not yet been possible to put him behind bars for many years. All his arrests ended in his release, to the surprise of not only the security forces, but also his brothers in the way of life.
Companions Andrey Khloev, for example, all the same Filimonov, are not far behind him in terms of “miraculous” deliverance from prisons and convictions. He was in the pre-trial detention center dozens of times, but he has only one criminal record, from March of the current month, 2022. He was tried in the Crimea under Art. 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm). Received a suspended sentence. Under the “operational experiment”, the clever authority fell, in fact, being under criminal prosecution under a completely different article (theft). And even in the pre-trial detention center in Gorelovo, he managed to sit “with taste”, but left it on a “undertaking not to leave”. And now he, too, is free. Although he is a defendant in another criminal case (about the divorce of the father of the arrested boy) under Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – fraud.
one against the other
The main factor of good fortune here is only in the skill of thinking Mikhail FilimonovDuring the six months he spent in Gorelovo pre-trial detention center, he didn't waste time. When he met the head of the police department, he quickly set up a press hut in the pre-trial detention center. They mainly targeted wealthy traders or those with affluent relatives. The profits were shared with the pre-trial detention center management.
After a few months, Filimonov left Gorelovo, but the press-hut business continued as 'their people' remained. So, 18-year-old Maxim got involved with the greedy police officers and enterprising criminals. The story didn't end there. Not wanting to face a specific major charge, Mikhail Filimonov negotiated. As you know, operatives always give the other party a choice. Filimonov was given an option – his life for the head of the leadership of the Gorelovo pre-trial detention center, who was involved in taking goods stolen from inmates. Misha Filimonov went to meet with the head of the SIZO-6 operative unit Timur Vodopyanov fully equipped. Major Vodopyanov, being a cautious man, didn't attend the meeting personally – he sent a friend. However, the colleagues from Liteiny still got the necessary information and Vodopyanov was arrested.
Official statements have been released: “A criminal case has been initiated against the head of the operational department of the FKU SIZO-6 of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, a major of the internal service on the grounds of a crime under Part 6 of Art. 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (taking a bribe). From the materials of the criminal case, it follows that from July 2018 to the present, the suspect has systematically received bribes from representatives of persons held in custody for improving the conditions of detention in the pre-trial detention center, totaling at least 10 million rubles.”
If any of the esteemed readers watched the remarkable series “Escape”, then they probably recall how warden Bellick ended up in his native prison as an inmate. The law enforcement have a unique sense of humor, because now, as they say, Major Timur Vodopyanovis 'steamed' in his native Gorelovo, awaiting trial …
one helps the other
However, the most interesting part is not about Timur Vodopyanovbut his former boss Evgeny Dekterev. On January 15, 2022, he was sentenced to 7 years in prison in a strict regime colony for receiving bribes. The investigation found that from 2018 to 2020, Dekterev received money from prisoners' relatives. In return, he provided better conditions for the prisoners – allowing the use of mobile phones, providing extra supplies, better beds, and not punishing for internal rule violations. The bribes totaled more than 2 million rubles. Everyone knows that this is only a fraction of what he had managed to embezzle.
SIZO-6 “Gorelovo” is located on Zarechnaya street, 22 in the historical district of Gorelovo in the Leningrad region. The isolation ward has existed since the 2000s; earlier, the buildings were used as a correctional colony. People on remand from the southwestern regions of the Leningrad region, as well as from the Krasnoselsky, Kirovsky and Nevsky regions of St. Petersburg, are usually placed here. “Gorelovo” many times became a target for media publications. In 2009, a scandal erupted here, which put an end to the so-called “Malenchuk era”. That year, in the Smolninsky District Court, five officers from SIZO-6 were convicted, who were beaten in the prison hospital named after. Haas prisoner Ilya Biyazova and forced other convicts to rape him. All employees of the service were then convicted and sentenced, depending on the severity of the deed, from 1.5 to 10 years in prison for “abuse of power.” After the scandal, the head of the Federal Penitentiary Service for St. Petersburg was removed from office Vladimir Malenchuk, who fought for his employees in all instances and stated that he “vouched” for the convicted employees. Together with his dismissal in isolation, as wrote the press“the era of Malenchuk ended”, associated with numerous tortures of prisoners.
But this is only a small illustration of the daily life of this detention center. Today, defendants are mostly beaten, intimidated and tortured for the sake of testimony and money. The corruption scandal of this kind, which we wrote about, is not the only one in the Gorelovo pre-trial detention center. In 2011, a scandal occurred again, which was called “an echo of the era of Vladimir Malenchuk.” A prisoner was killed in Gorelovo. The “senior in the cell”, lied, beat and humiliated fellow inmates if they did not give the due “tribute” in favor of the administration of the pre-trial detention center. How lawyers commented on the situation in those years publication “MK in St. Petersburg”: “We can’t check whether these “cell elders” take the money for themselves or give it to someone. We tried to do this several times, but failed.
As you can see, the situation has certainly changed somewhat, now not everyone is “milked”, but only those who have something for their souls or have wealthy relatives. But they milk big. You can only imagine how much Fsinovtsy earn on inmates, only by catching someone from the authorities on a larger scale. As people in the know say about the case Timur Vodopyanovnow so little is known only because they are “working” with him for evidence against the authorities from above.
