15:16, 24 October 2014

Verdict on massacre in Kuschevskaya upheld by Russia’s SC

The village of Kuschevskaya, Krasnodar Territory. Photo: the administration of the village of Kuschevskaya of the Kuschevskaya region http://www.adm-kushevskaya.ru/

The Russia's Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the sentence to the members of the so-called "Tsapok’s gang" from the village of Kuschevskaya, Krasnodar Territory, sentenced to long terms in prison. The case against Sergey Tsapok himself was stopped because of his death.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 19, 2013, Sergey Tsapok, who was considered to be the leader of the criminal grouping that operated in Kuschevskaya, and two other figurants in the massacre and several other crimes, were sentenced by the Krasnodar Territorial Court to life imprisonment. Three other defendants received 19 and 20 years in prison.

The SC has also stopped the criminal case because of non-rehabilitating circumstances against Igor Chernykh, another person involved in the case, because of his death in the SIZO (pre-trial prison) in July this year.

Besides, one of the authors of the complaint to the SC – Vyacheslav Tsepovyaz – got a reduction of his punishment by two months due to re-qualification of his actions in one of the episodes of the case. The other two prisoners – Nikolai Tsapok and Vladimir Zaporozhets – sentenced to 20 and 19 years in prison, respectively, will serve their terms unchanged.

The defence has announced its intention to appeal against the SC’s decision at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).