A court in Krasnodar sentenced members of a criminal group from Sochi for murders 20 years ago

A court in Krasnodar sentenced the organizer and members of a criminal group from Sochi to 12 to 13 years in a maximum security colony for the contract killings of local entrepreneurs committed more than 20 years ago, reports the joint press service of the courts of the Krasnodar region.

According to the press service, the jury found it proven that the organizer of the group, Antranik Yalanuzyan, decided to eliminate two entrepreneurs in 2001 in order to take over their shopping pavilions on the embankment in Adler. He promised Eduard Karagozyan and Rafael Cholokyan 10 thousand dollars for each murder. They prepared weapons, a plan and assigned roles.

Karagozyan soon carried out the order, shooting one of the entrepreneurs. Cholokian killed the second in March 2002. After this, the defendants took possession of five shopping pavilions that belonged to businessmen.

“The culprits were sentenced to imprisonment: Yalanuzyan – 12 years in a maximum security colony; Karagozyan – 13 years in a maximum security colony; Cholokyan – 12 years 6 months in a maximum security colony,” the press service said in a statement on the Telegram channel.

They were found guilty under points “a”, “e”, “g”, “h” of Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (murder of two persons, committed in a generally dangerous manner, by an organized group, for mercenary reasons, for hire, associated with banditry).

According to information from the Russian Investigative Committee for the Krasnodar Territory, for a long time the investigation could not identify those involved in the crimes, but this was done later: three defendants were detained in 2022. One of the gang members escaped from the preliminary investigation authorities and has been put on the international wanted list.