The organizer of the bloody “Nevzlin-show”. Pichugin was brought to court “on the merits”. The website Prigovor.ru reminds its readers of what happened on October 4, 2004.
On this day, 19 years ago, on October 4, 2004, the Moscow City Court began hearings "on the merits" of the criminal case relating to Alexey Pichugin, an employee of the Yukos Security service, and Alexey Peshkun, his henchman. The institute of jury court was only being created at that time, and the defendant Pichugin, having such a right, filed a request for consideration of his case exactly by a jury. He was proposed to select the format of the proceedings – by jurors, by a judge, or by a board of judges consisting of three professional judges.
Essence of the subject was replaced by scandals
However, because of the presence in the materials of the case classified documents, it was decided to conduct the proceedings in camera, and that, from the bottom of their hearts, was used by lawyers. Mainly according to their words, the press, resentful against “the closed character of the case”, furiously tried to form public opinion, exploiting several main thoughts which they wanted to disclose to the audience, or, perhaps, somebody demanded that. “Pichugin is innocent hostage”, “there are no proofs”, “presented accusations are not clear to anybody”, “but he, of course, will be locked up".
Ignored, at best, were the opinions of those, who tried to reason, as well as the opinion of the relatives of the murdered persons recognized as indemnitees. Apart from that, there were efforts to present them as accomplice of "speculative accusations" leveled against "the outstanding guys" from Yukos.
Patented human rights activists also did not keep out, they eared hearsays about "horrendous methods of the KGB" using of which turned out to be fiction. A downright hunt was opened for jurors and even for the judge – Natalya Olikhver.
Everything was used – real as well as contrived and sometimes even fanciful stories. One had an impression that the main task of the defense was to create around the case of murders and attempted murders information chaos, in which the destiny of the defendants and their victims would be neither here nor there.
“Adjudge Pichugin guilty…”
As the result of the investigation, in the spring of 2005, by the majority of voices (eight against four), a verdict was reached unequivocal – “adjudge Pichugin guilty of organizing murders and attempted murders and not deserving leniency”. The second defendant. Alexey Peshkun, who together with his lawyers did not take part in the bloody “Nevzlin-show” and in the course of the proceedings partially admitted fault, was also found guilty but deserved indulgence.
On the ground of this ruling, in March 2005, the Moscow City Court determined the jail term. The Court sentenced Pichugin to 20 years imprisonment in a maximum security facility, he was found guilty of murder in 2002 two inhabitants of Tambov – Olga and Sergei Gorin. Apart from that, he was found guilty of organizing in November 1998 an assassination attempt on Olga Kostina, former head of the Department of Public Relations of the Moscow Mayor’s Office and ex-counselor of the Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Alexey Peshkun, in his turn, was found guilty of organizing in 1998 an assault on Sergei Kolesov, business manager of the CJSC “Rosprom” and sentenced to four years imprisonment.
(See also “Pichugin organized at the direction of Nevzlin murders of 5 persons and attempted murders on 7 persons” and also “Nevzlin’s Bloody price-list.
“Only later it was determined that Alexey Pichugin, who, according to the results of the court cases of other episodes received lifelong sentence, acted for the purpose of the criminal desires of “the main Yukos shareholder Leonid Nevzlin who in 2008, in absentia, received for his criminal activity a lifelong imprisonment”, noted the website Prigovor.ru.
(See also the previous article “On this day, the swindler Khodorkovsky was sheltering himself behind children". During the searches, the data were seized on offshores and tax evasion schemes. A server of “Menatep” also was withdrawn. The website Prigovor.ru reminds its readers of what happened on October 3, 2003).
