Ex-Sochi Police Officers Sentenced for Bribe Involving Mini Cooper

Former Sochi police officers and their accomplices have been convicted for a bribe involving a Mini Cooper. In July 2022, Avetik Gigolyan, Vladislav Petrichenko, Ruben Razanov, and Rodion Nazarkin agreed to make money. The scenario was simple: Razanov and Nazarkin told Gigolyan, who was an operative officer of the criminal investigation department of the Sochi City Police Department, that their acquaintance was growing narcotic plants at home and using them.

Gigolyan, having first ascertained information about the acquaintance«s financial situation, informed Petrichenko — the head of the section of the criminal investigation department of the Sochi City Police Department. With the help of Razanov and Nazarkin, the police officers decided to create conditions under which the man would be forced to give them a bribe.

On 15 July 2022, Gigolyan and Petrichenko, being at the agreed location, stopped Nazarkin together with his acquaintance, and found marijuana on him. Drugs were also discovered during the inspection of his home. Following the planned scheme, the police officers did not draw up any procedural documents but detained the man. Then Nazarkin suggested involving Razanov to resolve the issue. Arriving at the address, Razanov, according to his assigned role, entered into negotiations with the police officers, after which he informed of the need to give them a bribe of 3,000,000 rubles (approximately $33,300 at current rates). The detained man did not have the full amount. As a bribe, he handed over a Mini Cooper car and 200,000 rubles (approximately $2,200). Then Nazarkin told the man that he had 1,800,000 rubles (approximately $20,000) which he was willing to give to the police officers on his behalf, and then get the debt back. The detained man agreed. After a few days, Nazarkin began demanding the return of the money that he allegedly gave to the police officers, and his acquaintance turned to law enforcement agencies with a report of a crime. At the moment when Nazarkin received part of the money, he was detained. The other accomplices were also detained.

After reviewing the materials of the criminal case, the Central District Court of Sochi found Gigolyan and Petrichenko guilty of committing crimes under Part 6 of Article 290, Point «a» of Part 3 of Article 286, and Part 1 of Article 285 of the Russian Criminal Code and sentenced them to 9 years in a strict regime colony, depriving them of the special ranks of «major» and «lieutenant colonel» of police.

Nazarkin received 7 years in a strict regime colony, while the court imposed a fine of 2,800,000 rubles (approximately $31,100) on Razanov, but the sentence was appealed.

The judicial panel for criminal cases of the Krasnodar Krai Court, having considered the materials of the criminal case on the appellate submission, agreed that the sentence was too lenient. Razanov was sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment in a strict regime colony. The sentence has entered into legal force, according to the united press service of the courts of Krasnodar Krai.