At the beginning of this week in Turkey, according to some reports, two Russian crime bosses were detained.

According to a number of media and Telegram channels, in Istanbul on February 7, police detained 41-year-old Akhmed Dombaev (better known as Akhmed Shalinsky) and several of his companions.

According to published information, upon the arrival of Shalinsky and his entourage in the country on a business jet, the Turkish authorities confiscated their weapons and about $2 million in cash in sports bags.

Released from the colony in 2019, Akhmed Shalinsky, being a thief in law, was put on the federal wanted list in 2020 under article 210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy.

How he was able to get to Turkey is not yet clear.

Turkish law enforcement officers also detained 55-year-old Hussein Akhmadov (also known by the nickname Blind).

According to the Prime Crime agency, this happened in Antalya, allegedly in connection with his involvement in a fatal armed criminal showdown that took place in Istanbul in the spring of 2021.

The Russian authorities have not yet received official confirmation of the information about the detention of these citizens by the Turkish side.

“Unfortunately, we do not have any information on this subject,” RT was told at the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Turkey.

Former operative officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, engaged in the fight against criminal groups, forensic scientist Mikhail Ignatov, in a conversation with RT, said that the Turkish authorities could have detained Shalinsky and Slepy for various reasons, while the offense imputed to them could not even necessarily have been committed in Turkey.

“They could have been detained there for anything.

At the same time, it could be either a request from Turkey or an Interpol request, for example, ”the expert argues.

The National Central Bureau of Interpol of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia was unable to promptly comment on RT the news about the detention of Russians in Turkey.

The department also failed to confirm the information about the criminal authorities being on the international wanted list.

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Prime Crime sources believe that the detained Akhmadov, who allegedly unsuccessfully tried to pay off the Turkish police, may well face a prison term in Turkey, while Akhmed Shalinsky could be deported to Russia.

Mikhail Ignatov believes that this process may be delayed.

“In the future, Shalinsky, most likely, should be deported to his homeland, but he can, for example, declare that he is being persecuted in Russia or that he was“ ordered ”and killed there, then he can ask the Turkish authorities for political asylum,” suggests the interlocutor RT.

Just not home?

For Akhmed Shalinsky, the prospect of being sent home is not the most rosy.

In Russia, he faces imprisonment for a term of eight to 15 years in prison.

A criminal case was initiated against him in North Ossetia under article 210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

However, another term is probably not the worst thing that Shalinsky can expect in the event of his forced return to the Russian Federation.

In September 2021, the media wrote that Akhmed Shalinsky, once “crowned” by Aslan Usoyan himself (Ded Khasan) and influential in criminal circles, was “demoted” from the thieves after accusations from other authorities of embezzling about $ 2 million from the so-called thieves’ obshchak. 

Shalinsky was allegedly suspected of embezzling funds from the general "cash" after his ten-year prison term, which the man served in 2019.

Once at large, he immediately acquired several expensive real estate objects, which attracted attention, and after appropriate questions he could not explain the origin of funds for expensive purchases.

At the same time, he categorically denied the fact of misappropriation of money.

Mikhail Ignatov, in an interview with RT, noted that such news from the thieves' environment should be treated critically.

“They have their own, completely closed ecosystem, and thieves are absolutely not interested in telling the whole world about their affairs.

In general, stealing from a common fund is really a mortal sin among them, for this they can take their lives.

And it’s hard for me to imagine that one of the thieves in law will fill their pockets from the obshchak.

They know better than anyone else what happens.

Hence the question: who and why disseminated this information?

Well, the question of what will happen to Akhmed because of this, we will not know this, the thieves will decide everything among themselves, ”Ignatov is sure.

All to Turkey

The question of how Shalinsky was able to leave Russia is still open.

According to Mikhail Ignatov, criminal authorities find different ways to leave the country.

“As for the supervision of the special services over the former thieves in law, it is difficult to trace them.

Suppose he leads a respectable lifestyle, then suddenly at one fine moment he takes and disappears.

Well, they will not look for him all over the country.

The authorities also have their own work, there is a turnover, ”the expert notes.

In his opinion, the criminal authority could rush to Turkey just because of the persecution under Art.

210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

“How did Slepoy and Shalinsky end up in Turkey?

Yes, just like everyone else, for thieves it is now like Mecca, they are all now in Turkey.

This is due to the recent introduction of an article in our criminal code on occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy, ”explains Ignatov. 

“Thieves began to look for a country where there is no such article.

There is no such article in Turkey.

In Turkey, they can live relatively quietly, without any problems, perhaps by paying a certain number of corrupt officials,” he adds.

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He also doubted that in Turkey the fugitive Russian criminal authorities are engaged in some kind of criminal activity.

“I don’t think that they are breaking the law there, they just sit out, as they say,” the forensic expert concluded.

Justification Stoop

Also this week there was a denouement in the lawsuit under the previously mentioned Art.

210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

There are still relatively few such cases in Russian courts, and each trial, as a rule, is in the field of view of the media.

This time, the jury in the Moscow Regional Court decided the fate of Dulat Youlo, better known in criminal circles as Akhmed Sutuly.

According to an RT source familiar with the course of the case, at the trial, the main argument of the investigation was an audio recording in which a representative of the informal leader of the Russian criminals, Shakro Molodoy, allegedly claims about the status of Sutuly.

This was supposed to prove that since the 90s, Sutuly was an active thief in law.

Joulo did not admit his guilt for the alleged crimes, and called the record a fake.

As a result, in the Moscow Regional Court, four jurors voted “for” that the defendant was guilty, four more voted “against”.

By law, in the event of an equal number of votes, the verdict is in favor of the defendant.

Thus, he was acquitted.

Mikhail Ignatov noted that earlier acquittals had already been issued against the accused under Article 210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation twice, but in both cases the prosecutor's office appealed the court's decision and eventually sought a review of the case.

According to the expert, the same is likely to be expected in the situation with Sutuly.

"Thieves" article

Criminal liability for thieves in law was introduced in Russia in April 2019, it was enshrined in Art.

210.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

In addition to imprisonment for a term of eight to 15 years, the perpetrator also faces a fine of up to 5 million rubles.

The initiative to create an article for the top of the criminal hierarchy belonged to Vladimir Putin - the head of the Russian Federation submitted the relevant amendments to the State Duma in February 2019.

According to experts, the practice of applying the "thieves" article of the Criminal Code in Russia is still complicated by difficulties in collecting evidence in such cases.

“The article is still very “raw”.

The thieves themselves in court say: we are not thieves, we are honest citizens, disabled people, pensioners ... There is practically no evidence base as such in such cases.

There is only operational information from the internal affairs bodies and nothing more: no protocols, no witnesses - who will go as a witness here?

Mikhail Ignatov explains.

“The government is having a very hard time.

The defendants simply deny their guilt and say, as in the case of Sutuly, that all video or audio materials are editing.

Specifically, here I see a flaw in the investigation - no one thought to send the recording for examination, so that they would confirm that this was not a montage, ”he adds.

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As a good example of the application of the article on occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy, Ignatov cites the experience of Georgia, where not only the thief in law himself, but also members of his family can be held criminally liable.

“There, this article works very hard, and what did it lead to?

Now you can't find a single thief in Georgia, they simply don't exist, they all left there.

Although once they flourished in this country, ”the expert noted.

According to the interlocutor of RT, the very "title" of the thief in law has already outlived its usefulness.

The criminalist believes that the thieves' subculture has lost its basic principles.

“Once upon a time, thieves were obliged to live as“ vagabonds ”, not to have a home, not to receive anything from the state, not to start families,” Ignatov stated.

“Now thieves in law do not observe anything like this and can even publicly renounce their title in court – before this was unthinkable for a real thief.”