The Court of Appeal reduced the sentence of Igor Zhirnokleev by six months

The Court of Appeal reduced the sentence of Igor Zhirnokleev, the leader of the Taganskaya organized crime group, by six months - to 24.5 years in prison.

The Moscow City Court previously sentenced Zhirnokleev to 25 years in prison on charges of creating an organized crime group, illegal possession of weapons, murder and other crimes.

The lawyer said that other defendants have filed complaints about the delay in the process and are asking for compensation for financial costs associated with the lengthy consideration of the case.

MOSCOW, October 4 - RIA Novosti. The Court of Appeal reduced the sentence of the leader of the Taganskaya organized crime group, Igor Zhirnokleev, by six months - to 24.5 years in prison, his lawyer Mark Kaverzin told RIA Novosti.

In mid-May 2025, the Moscow City Court, based on a jury verdict, sentenced Zhirnokleev to 25 years in prison on charges of creating an organized criminal group, illegal possession of weapons, murder and other crimes. The rest of the defendants in the case received sentences from 22 to 25 years.

“The Court of Appeal reduced the sentence by six months – to 24.5 years. We will continue to appeal the verdict in cassation. Violations related to the statute of limitations have not been eliminated,” said the agency’s interlocutor.

The lawyer said that other defendants filed complaints about the delay in the process - more than 200 hearings were held in the case in the first instance alone, and asked to be reimbursed for financial costs associated with the lengthy consideration. Zhirnokleyev did not file such a complaint, Kaverzin added.

Zhirnokleyev and his accomplices created a criminal group no later than 1991; in 2002-2003, a new criminal community arose on its basis, the Russian Investigative Committee previously reported. The organized crime group was liquidated in January 2019 after the detention of Zhirnokleev and several of his subordinates. They were accused of the murder of the general director of Rospishcheprom OJSC Aslan Usoyan (criminal authority Ded Khasan), lawyer Natalya Vavilina and four other murders, and were also charged with robbery, extortion and kidnapping of an entrepreneur in Moscow, a series of fraudulent actions, falsification of evidence in court, illegal trafficking and production of weapons and explosives.