Zabaykalsky Gang Members Appeal to Russian Supreme Court

Russia«s Supreme Court has considered cassation appeals from the defense in the case of an organized criminal group (OPG) from the Olovyanninsky District of Zabaykalsky Krai, whose leader has already died. The regional prosecutor»s office informed Chita.Ru about the outcome of the appeals on 20 January.

Earlier, members of the Zabaykalsky criminal community led by Gennady Fintisov, who was the so-called smotryashchy (overseer) for the Olovyanninsky District, namely three OPG leaders — Sergey Korobkov, Anatoly Sushkov, and Alexey Novikov — and five participants attempted to appeal their imprisonment, but the appellate court in Novosibirsk left the verdict unchanged. Fintisov himself, whom the court sentenced to 18.5 years in prison, died while under a travel restriction. It was clarified that the judge began working on the verdict in the deliberation room before the defendant«s death.

The prosecutor«s office recalled that, depending on their role and level of involvement, the leaders and members of the OPG were found guilty of: creating and participating in a criminal community, including by a person holding the highest position in the criminal hierarchy; occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy; robbery committed by an organized group with the use of violence; extortion committed by an organized group with the use of violence and threats thereof.

The court established that in May 2013, Fintisov, who lived in the Olovyanninsky District and held the highest position in the criminal hierarchy, created a criminal community that included individuals with criminal authority. Its members committed 13 extortions and one robbery against 16 victims, causing damage of more than 1.5 million rubles (about $16,700 at current rates). The community«s activities were halted by law enforcement in 2022.

Fintisov received the longest sentence and was to serve it in a strict-regime correctional colony. The other defendants were sentenced to imprisonment terms ranging from 6 to 15.5 years, to be served in general, strict, and special-regime correctional colonies, with subsequent restriction of freedom from 1.5 to 2 years.

«The convicts and their defenders appealed the verdict first in the appellate and then in the cassation instances, insisting on their innocence and violations of criminal procedure law during the investigation. However, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation agreed with the prosecutor»s office«s arguments, found no grounds to overturn or change the first-instance court»s decision, confirmed compliance with the law during the investigation and trial, the correctness of the legal classification of the acts, and the fairness of the imposed sentences,« according to the regional prosecutor»s office«s statement.

Fintisov began to be tried in January 2024 — due to health reasons, he participated in the court hearing via video conference. Article 210.1 of the Russian Criminal Code, «Occupying the Highest Position in the Criminal Hierarchy,» under which Fintisov was tried, was added to the Criminal Code in 2019. The sanction provides for a term of eight to fifteen years. Material on the hierarchy in places of deprivation of liberty was published on Chita.Ru.

A smotryashchy oversees compliance with criminal world rules and may perform functions such as collecting money for the so-called obshchak (common fund) to finance members of «AUE»* (an extremist organization, banned in the Russian Federation).