Bloody past of Celentano: Anatoly Bykov received another term

And once the ECHR even awarded him moral compensation

Anatoly Bykov or “Celentano” is a well-known crime boss in the Krasnoyarsk Territory who managed to avoid punishment for a long time. Until recently. He was sentenced for the first time in 2021. And on December 11 he was sentenced to another 12 years in prison. “MK” recalls why and how many times they tried to imprison Bykov.

On December 11, Anatoly Bykov was found guilty of organizing and inciting the murder of crime boss Vladimir Filippov. According to investigators, in 1998, Bykov, being the head of the criminal community he created, instructed his subordinates to kill Vladimir.

The businessman’s accomplices shot the victim on the night of June 17-18, 1998. The punishment for this is 12 years in a maximum security colony. Bykov himself, like last time, does not admit his guilt. The verdict has not yet entered into legal force. Combined with his previous sentences, he will serve 20 years. Now Bykov is 63 years old.

Anatoly Bykov was detained in May 2020. Then he was arrested and placed in a pre-trial detention center. And in 2021, the first verdict was handed down for organizing the murder of a former ally. According to investigators, in 1994, a conflict occurred between Celentano and one of the members of his criminal group, Alexander Naumov, over the distribution of money. After someone blew up Bykov’s car, he considered Naumov guilty and decided to kill him and the victim’s close friend. Both were shot.

Bykov did not admit guilt, but received 13 years in prison. He was sentenced to another term in May 2023 for incitement to murder. According to investigators, the founder of a Krasnoyarsk industrial waste disposal company, Andrei Nekolov, refused to do business with Bykov, for which he was killed.

According to Alexey Prokhorov, Celentano’s lawyer, for the entire three and a half years that have passed since his arrest in 2020, Bykov has been in pre-trial detention center No. 1 in Krasnoyarsk. For the last year and a half he has been sitting in a cell alone. Until the sentence comes into force, Bykov will continue to be held in the pre-trial detention center. After the sentence comes into force, he can be sent to one of the correctional colonies.

In the 90s, Bykov was considered one of the most influential crime bosses in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. And he actively participated in local political and economic life. From 1998 to 2000, he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of a local aluminum smelter. In 1997, he was elected as a deputy of the regional Legislative Assembly and was re-elected until 2016, until he was prevented from participating in the elections by a “criminal filter” – a restriction on participation in elections due to outstanding criminal convictions for serious crimes. At the time of his arrest in 2020, he owned several Krasnoyarsk companies, for example, the Vision Correction Center.

The current case is not the first criminal prosecution of Anatoly Bykov. However, in previous years he managed to get away with it and even win moral compensation.

The last criminal case was initiated in April 1999. Bykov was accused of involvement in murder, legalization of illegally obtained funds, illegal possession of weapons, and illegal currency transactions. Then Bykov decided to flee and left Russia for Hungary.

But he failed to settle there. Celentano’s former ally Vladimir Tatarenkov was arrested in Greece. He testified about Bykov’s involvement in a number of murders of prominent persons in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. A video recording of Tatarenkov’s statements accusing his former boss of murder was even shown on television. Then the Hungarian side handed Bykov over to Russian investigative authorities. But in the end, Tatarenkov suddenly abandoned all his testimony, and Anatoly was released.

Naturally, they couldn’t let Anatoly Bykov out of sight so easily. He did not walk free for long. In 2000, he was arrested, and in 2002 he was accused of the murder of Vilor Struganov, nicknamed Pasha-Tsvetomuzyka, and illegal arms trafficking. Bykov received a suspended sentence of 6.5 years and even admitted his guilt in preparing a murder. True, in the end it turned out that “Pasha-Tsvetomuzyka” was very much alive, and it was a “set-up” from the investigators. In 2005, Bykov’s suspended sentence was lifted and his criminal record expunged.

In 2003, the court found Bykov guilty in another case. He was suspected of complicity in the murder of Oleg Gubin and illegal arms trafficking. He was sentenced to one year, but was immediately amnestied on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War.

And Bykov, as a person with an entrepreneurial spirit, decided not to just leave the case with Vilor Struganov. In 2009, he asked the European Court of Human Rights to consider the case. As a result, the ECHR sided with him. He admitted the illegal use in the trial against Bykov of data obtained as a result of a special operation, and the illegal extension of detention. The ECHR ordered the Russian Federation to pay Celentano 26 thousand euros.

In general, they tried to put the authority behind bars several times, but each time… they failed. Now it’s possible. And even several times in a row.