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Kushchevskaya gang members sentenced

During the massacre, gangsters killed 12 people, including four children, in the house of farmer Serever Ametov

MOSCOW, November 20. /ITAR-TASS/. Krasnodar territory's court on Tuesday handed down a verdict in a high-profile criminal case against the gang led by local resident Sergei Tsapok, involved in a massacre in the village of Kushchevskaya. During the massacre, gangsters killed 12 people, including four children, in the house of farmer Serever Ametov.

Under the court's ruling, Tsapok and his two close accomplices will be imprisoned for life, while other defendants were given long prison terms.

The Kommersant reminds that Tsapok's gang was held in awe by residents of Kushchevskaya and neighboring districts, and that local police had ignored their complaints.

The mass murder caused such a public outcry that Investigative Committee chief Alexander Bastrykhin personally led the probe. The potential culprits were quickly tracked and arrested.

It turned out that Sergei Tsapok had police close their eyes to the crimes the gang committed in the village, the Komsomolskaya Pravda notes. "Villagers lived in fear and tried not to let their daughters walk in the streets: the gangsters used to rape any girl they took a liking to." They would push her into their car and take to a forest. After raping the victim, they threw her out of the car, according to the newspaper.

Tsapok and another defendant Tsepovyaz, were local council deputies, the Vedomosti newspaper writes.

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