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Moscow court sanctions arrest of alleged mob boss Oleg Shishkanov

According to the investigators, he was involved in the abduction and murder of legislative assembly councilwoman in the Moscow region, Tatiana Sidorova, and her family in 2012

MOSCOW, July 15. /TASS/. Moscow’s Basmanny Court has sanctioned the arrest of an alleged criminal kingpin called Oleg Shishkanov (the suspect has changed his surname for Medvedev - TASS), who is suspected of being a leader in the crime hierarchy, TASS reported from the court hall on Monday.

"Moscow’s Basmanny Court has ruled to meet the investigation’s move and place Medvedev in custody until September 12 as a measure of restraint," Judge Artur Karpov said.

The lawyer for the suspect said he would appeal against the ruling. The defense asked the court to place their client under house arrest. In his turn, the suspect denied any wrongdoing.

An investigator told the court that in 1992 Shishkanov arranged a meeting with two criminal kingpins who accepted his superior position and notified others about that. The Investigative Committee alleges that while living in the Ramenskoye district outside Moscow at the time the files were submitted to court, Shishkanov was overseeing crime groups across the Moscow region, was taking part in turf wars in the crime hierarchy. In addition, as part of his crime activities, Shishkanov had taken over some legal entities with the aim of their funding. In particular, he was among founding members of some companies and also controlled illegal casinos.

According to the information obtained by the investigation, Shishkanov was involved in the abduction and murder of legislative assembly councilwoman from the Ramenskoye district in the Moscow region, Tatiana Sidorova, and her family in 2012

In April 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that toughened punishment for organizing a crime group or for being its member and that introduced imprisonment of up to 15 years for crime lords. Thus, a new article was added to Russia’s Criminal Code (Occupation of the Highest Position in the Criminal Hierarchy). The crime is punishable by a prison term of between 8 and 15 years, with a possible fine of up to 5 million rubles or in the amount of the wage or salary, or any other income of the convicted person for a period of up to five years and with restriction of liberty for a term of between one and two years. It is the third criminal case since new Article 210.1 came into force.

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