The criminal leader, who had been in prison multiple times in his home country, was accused of holding the highest position in the criminal hierarchy. He fled from criminal investigation in Germany and later moved to Portugal to avoid the German prosecutor’s office.
The supervisory authority announced today that at the request of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Russia, Portugal is extraditing Russian citizen Stepan Furman to Russia. He is accused of occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy according to Art. 210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Furman, who received the criminal status of a thief in law in 1994, is said to have led a criminal organization in the Murmansk region, where the group members committed serious crimes. The prosecutor’s office did not specify the acts attributed to Stepan Furman, but according to some reports, he allegedly controlled the prisons in the region.
Stepan Furman was transported to Russia from Portugal with the assistance of employees of the NCB Interpol of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, as reported by the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.
The department added, “For the first time in history, a European country has handed over to Russia a person accused of holding the highest position in the criminal hierarchy.”
A criminal case was initiated in 2019 based on Art. 210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Stepan Furman, who had previous convictions, was put on the international wanted list through Interpol channels at the request of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Murmansk Region. The Oktyabrsky District Court of the city of Murmansk ordered his detention in absentia.
Stepan Furman, also known as Stepa Murmansky, is a 58-year-old prominent thief in law. He had a history of getting into trouble with law enforcement agencies from a young age. He got his first conviction for theft in the Ukrainian SSR and later moved to Russia.
In the mid-1990s, according to Kommersant’s sources in law enforcement agencies, Styopa Murmansky was apparently closely associated with the Kuntsevo organized criminal group in the capital. During the same period, he was reportedly crowned by several thieves in law, with alleged support from the legendary crime boss Revaz Tsitsishvili (Tsitska) and another Georgian “authority” Ramaz Dzneladze (Ramaz).
Stepan Furman was detained by law enforcement officers many times, mainly under articles traditional for thieves in law on drug trafficking or weapons, as well as hooliganism: according to rumors, Stepan Murmansky allegedly had a very violent temper in his youth. Sometimes the case ended with new lawsuits. If we add up all the punishments imposed on the thief by the courts, we get about a quarter of a century, although he was not in prison for such a time: in some cases, the terms were suspended, in others Styopa Murmansky fell under an amnesty or was released on parole.
After the introduction of Article 210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Stepan Furman went abroad and first settled in Germany. However, judging by media reports, after some time in this country he was put on the wanted list by the Munich prosecutor’s office – allegedly as part of an investigation into the activities of some organized criminal community. Stepan Furman moved to Portugal, where he was detained, but in connection with an Interpol wanted list initiated by the Russian side.
