At today’s hearing (it started an hour and a half late due to the late delivery of the accused, so the apparently ill and hoarse judge Sergei Artemov immediately took up a vigorous pace) the defense of Viktor Belevtsov and Vasily Kritinin (both, according to the investigation, are acquaintances and confidants of Zakharchenko) spoke. From the interrogation of Belevtsov (lawyer, ex-employee of Zheldoravtomatizatsiya) it followed that his communication with Zakharchenko was superficial and never work-related or personal. “No instructions from Dmitry Viktorovich [Захарченко] I didn’t fulfill it, I didn’t have any financial relations with him, and I didn’t know anything about his work contacts,” he said. The remaining details of the interrogation confirmed what was said: Belevtsov does not have any expensive or, especially, luxurious property (even an apartment of 44 square meters was purchased with a mortgage).
Belevtsov, according to him, is not familiar with Valery Markelov and Boris Usherovich (co-owners of GC 1520, accused of giving bribes to Zakharchenko), and accordingly, could not have had any dealings with them, and Belevtsov only learned about the “Site” appearing in the documents only from the materials affairs.
But Belevtsov, in his words, “knew Vasily Kritinin from a young age.”
Belevtsov’s interrogation was supplemented by lawyer Alexander Gofshtein. He indicated that Belevtsov had nothing to do with the legal entities in which Markelov is credited with participating.
The interrogation of Vasily Kritinin (a longtime acquaintance of Zakharchenko, who, according to the investigation, helped him in illegal enrichment) was similar to the interrogation of Belevtsov: he had no trust or financial relationship with Zakharchenko, the names of Usherovich or Markelov were familiar to him only from the case materials, and any participation in legal entities that appear in the criminal case was only nominal, for a small fee (25-30 thousand rubles per month for bank card). Communication was carried out mainly through Vadim Chislov (according to investigators, he was involved in the selection of denominations for the “Site”; the Cheka-OGPU wrote about his interrogation.
Rumors are circulating on the sidelines of the Presnensky court that the state prosecution is dissatisfied with the way the process is going (the defense of the accused looks very prepared and confident) and would like to complete the “second Zakharchenko case” in April of this year.
The court scheduled the next hearing for March 23. The Cheka-OGPU will monitor developments.
VChK-OGPU
Reindeer herders for Cherry: new witnesses in the “Zakharchenko case”
On July 5, the Presnensky District Court of Moscow continued to consider the case of billionaire colonel (“billionaire,” as sharp tongues have dubbed him) Dmitry Zakharchenko, who, according to investigators…
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