Vigilante Group Exposes Alleged Pedophile in Yekaterinburg

A group of guys has appeared in Yekaterinburg who catch potential pedophiles using «live bait». They find them in popular chat bots for dating. In the correspondence, activists conduct conversations from fake pages posing as 14-year-old schoolchildren. First, the suspects are drawn into a dialogue, then they move on to sex through messages and send their intimate photos. As a result, the man is invited to meet, but instead of a teenager, a crowd of activists shows up for the date — to conduct an «educational conversation». This was reported to E1.RU by a source familiar with the organization. He assures that the group is based on an idea and does not break the law. But so far. More about Tesak«s followers — in our article.

Meeting in an Abandoned Building

«No one beats them, tortures, or torments them. Everything is without crime. The guys are great, they try. At least they»re doing something,« stated the source to E1.RU.

The editorial office has one of the «preventive conversations» that took place recently. The video lasts about 20 minutes. A 23-year-old Konstantin (name changed) came for a date with a 14-year-old boy. The young man moved to Yekaterinburg from Reftinsky. The meeting was arranged in the Southwestern district, in an abandoned building. Before that, they corresponded with him. Its content is so explicit that the law does not allow us to publish it.

During the meeting, the group of young people asked the lover of teenage boys to explain why he conducted such correspondence with a schoolboy. He confirmed, saying he thought his interlocutor was 14 years old, but could not give any coherent answer regarding his motives. The guy was asked to show what was in his backpack. There were sex toys.

«Do you know who Tesak is? He also caught pedophiles. Tell us, what did you do to become like this, will you continue such activities? You would know what thoughts those who are standing around have. But we don»t do that. Our business is to help a person,« say the guys in the video.

«I don»t know, this is the first time I«ve encountered this,» their «victim» mumbles in response.

Tesak is the nationalist Maxim Martsinkevich, one of the leaders of the «Occupy Pedophiles» movement, which operated across the country in the mid-2010s. Martsinkevich was found dead in cell SIZO-3 (a pre-trial detention center) in Chelyabinsk on 16 September 2020, where he ended up during a transfer to a Moscow isolation ward, where he was supposed to give testimony in one of his criminal cases.

Representatives of the group claim that they never took money from those they caught. However, when it came to deleting the correspondence — the following dialogue took place:

«Can you scrape together 15,000 rubles (approximately $200 at current rates) in a week? He has 2,000 rubles ($27) on his card now. At least 10,000 ($133)? That»s still decent; we wanted 50,000 ($667) from you yesterday, but we«ve talked now — you»re speaking up. Let«s wrap this up and then verify everything,» the pedophile hunters say in unison.

Then they clarify that they are «in a good mood today» and give him a phone so the guy can delete all the correspondence and screenshots.

The video and screenshots of these correspondences appeared in several Telegram channels. According to E1.RU, Konstantin suddenly became famous and was forced to quit his job. The young man himself did not respond to calls and messages from the E1.RU editorial office. His mother explained that she knows nothing about such problems with her son.

Could Anyone Face Responsibility?

We asked lawyer Sergei Kolosovsky to explain whether there are elements of crime in the actions of either side.

«The guys who catch them are engaged in socially useful work if they don»t beat anyone and don«t take anything for themselves. But considering the madness of the prosecutor»s office and the Investigative Committee, they could initiate, for example, a case under Article 137 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — violation of privacy. But it will be difficult to prove.

The problem with all Robin Hoods is that they often get carried away and cross a certain line that should not be crossed. I would like to wish the guys cold reason,« the lawyer noted.

In Konstantin«s actions, there are also elements of a crime — they can be classified as an attempt to commit other sexual acts against a person under the age of 14 (Part 2 of Article 134 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

«The correspondence would be considered preparation for a crime, and considering that he already went to the meeting — this is an attempt to commit a serious crime. The fact that no 14-year-old boy exists — this is called the legal concept of »mistake in the object«. If a person tries to steal drugs but steals glucose — it is considered an attempt to steal narcotic substances.

However, simply handing over the correspondence to law enforcement is not enough. What these vigilantes are doing is called an operational experiment. By law, only certain agencies can engage in operational-search activities. Civic activists are not included. The operational experiment was conducted in violation of federal law, and according to the Constitution, evidence obtained in violation cannot be used. If everything had happened under the control of law enforcement agencies, this young man could have been held accountable — but only if the correspondence was conducted under control, for example, of the criminal investigation department,« concluded Sergei Kolosovsky.

Who is Tesak

Tesak, whom the activists mention in the video, is the nationalist Maxim Martsinkevich, who became famous thanks to the «Occupy Pedophiles» project, which claimed to fight pedophilia and promote Nazi ideas among youth. Tesak«s followers searched for pedophiles through social networks using »bait« and conducted »preventive conversations« with them. Martsinkevich called the hunt »safari«, and he even charged a fee for participation. At the meetings, potential criminals were intimidated, beaten, and humiliated. All this was filmed and posted online.

In Yekaterinburg, Tesak«s followers, under the pretext of fighting for the inviolability of minors, were engaged in robbery and assault. Gang members received a total of 50 years in prison.

The project lasted for several years, but in 2014, the movement announced its self-dissolution after Martsinkevich«s arrest and the initiation of numerous criminal cases against his associates.

Tesak himself was found dead on 16 September 2020 in transit pre-trial detention center No. 3 in Chelyabinsk. He was 36 years old.

Read also about how a beauty blogger in Yekaterinburg with her friends «caught pedophiles using live bait». They flirted with strangers, casually mentioned that they were 15 years old, and invited them over. There, the «gentlemen» were surrounded by tough guys, intimidated, and demanded money, threatening to publicize the correspondence with schoolgirls or turn them over to the police. In the end, the girl was released — she received a suspended sentence.