“Collect the gangway”: correspondence of thieves in law revealed

REFERENCE “MK”

The court established that in 1980 Giorgi Kipiani was given the status of a so-called thief in law. The accused, as a person occupying the highest position in the criminal hierarchy, repeatedly took part in meetings with persons from among the so-called thieves in law, created conditions for the merging of the interests of organized crime, and also directly participated in the division of spheres of criminal influence on the territory of the Moscow region.

In January 2021, during a personal search and during an inspection of the defendant’s car, law enforcement officers found and seized a narcotic drug.

After the defendant was placed in a correctional institution, the man announced to other detainees his criminal status, to the will, instructions and orders of which, in accordance with the customs and rules of the criminal subculture, all persons with lower criminal statuses are obliged to unquestioningly obey, and also issued the so-called thieves’ judgment against the other defendant.

– Did Kipiani admit that he was a thief in law?

“Together with the jury, we were very much looking forward to his testimony throughout the entire trial. He actively defended himself, not only his defenders, but himself. He argued about thieves’ concepts: what a thief should do, what he shouldn’t.

What does he think a thief should do?

– We had a specialist, Doctor of Law Andrey Vorontsov, who told the jurors in detail about the institution of thieves in law. He works at the department of operational-investigative activities of the Academy of Management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. His specialization is the criminal community in the Russian Federation, including those who occupy the highest hierarchy. So he made an excursion into history for the participants in the process – about thieves of the old school, how they were formed, what is the thieves’ law.

– So let’s figure it out. What is the thieves’ law?

– I will quote Dr. Vorontsov. “This is an unwritten code of conduct in the criminal world, a complete denial of the laws of the state, life according to the rules. Just thieves in law are the guardians of the thieves’ code, the thieves’ law and interpret concepts. They resolve disputes in a criminal environment, pronounce thieves’ sentences and give orders or permissions to conduct any criminal activity.

Accordingly, when the assistant professor gave evidence, Kipiani listened attentively, agreed with many things …

– With what exactly?

– With the fact that there is a hierarchy. It starts with men. Those who went to jail, but do not want to continue their criminal activities, just want to serve their term and go free. Here are the men, in his opinion, and should work “behind the thorn”.

Then there are aspirants, then there are vagabonds, looking, and then there is a thief in law. This is if you exaggerate. The entire criminal world consists of the so-called professional criminals – vagrants. And they are obliged to conduct a common fund. That is, the time of being at large is the time of earning money for the obshchak. Making money means committing crimes. Being in prison, in the zone is home. This is a home for them, and the owner in this house is dad, he is also a thief in law. Just as in a family everyone obeys their father, so in the zone everyone obeys a bat, a thief. Above Bati only God. There is no one else to respect besides God and Bati.

Vorontsov said that the thieves of the old school during the arrest were required to introduce themselves as “I am a thief” and give a nickname. Kipiani’s nickname was David of Tbilisi, or Pancho. Accordingly, they did not call him David Georgievich, but exclusively David Tbilissky, Pancho … They also had to introduce themselves to the police officers as “I am a thief named …”. But after criminal liability was introduced in 2019 simply for occupying the highest position in criminality, at a meeting held in Dubai, it was decided that when detained by police officers, a thief in law is not required to call himself a thief in law. From 60 to 100 authorities were present there, such a weighty “gathering”.

And when Kipiani was detained, he was asked directly: “Are you a thief in law?” He said, “I don’t know what you’re asking, I’m a good person.”

That is, it is directly forbidden to deny the fact itself, it is impossible to say: “No, I am not a thief.” But you can speak figuratively.

And he never spoke?

– Imagine! In the court session, he never said: they say, I am not a thief.

He simply said: “I don’t plead guilty, they condemn me for nothing, they framed me, personal scores of law enforcement agencies.”

By the way, when Vorontsov said that at this meeting it was decided that it was not necessary to introduce himself as a thief in law, Kipiani exclaimed: “How could I know about this? I wasn’t there.” And even the jury cheered. I say: “This is a Freudian slip”, it turns out that he did not know about the decision of the meeting, but he carried out the decision itself.

And we waited a very long time for Kipiani to testify. But he disappointed everyone. He stood up and said: “I don’t plead guilty, I won’t give evidence.” The judge tried to clarify: “You decided to use Article 51 of the Constitution (allows refusal to testify. — Note. ed.)?” He replied: “I will not use any Constitution.” That is, in other words, I am not interested in the rights that you explain to me here. These are your rights, these are not my rights. I think this moment was not only a turning point, but a convincing one for the jury. They saw who was in front of them.

The complexity of this case was that since the jurors are not professional judges, it is very difficult to prove to them that Kipiani personally did not go, did not steal purses from cars, did not sell drugs, did not extort money. He has nothing to do with crime at all. He earned his authority in the last century, when he was crowned. But I tried to convey to the jury that it is with his knowledge that all crimes are committed. That most of the criminally obtained goes to the maintenance of criminals. Criminals have to deduct money to the obshchak, and he is the holder of the obshchak.

How did you prove it?

– In communicating with the jury, I tried to exclude legal terms, I tried to explain complex things in simple language, using everyday examples. For example, I said: if you think that the activity of a thief in law does not concern you in any way, then you are deeply mistaken. Here is the simplest example. Try to buy greens, parsley, cucumber-tomatoes from some grandmother at the market? First, they won’t even let her in. Dealers will immediately take everything from her. And they are already raising the price. And besides, beholders come to this, vagabonds who demand money from her so that she can freely sell, so that her goods are not looted, destroyed, or burned. They pay tribute to criminal elements, and this money goes to the thief in law. But that difference in price just affects you – an entrepreneur who rents a place, sells products and is forced to pay a thief in law so that crime does not touch him. Therefore, he increases the cost of his product. Accordingly, propaganda of a criminal lifestyle is not like in the movies. Life and fiction are very different things.

In our court session, two witnesses were interrogated, in respect of whom state protection measures were applied. They were in another room, with the help of computer technology they changed their voices. Participants in the judicial investigation asked them questions over the speakerphone. And these witnesses explained: having been put behind bars, they were faced with the fact that they were forced not only to serve their sentence, but to pay money for the safety of their own and their families.

That is, you yourself are physically healthy, cellmates will not be able to beat you. But an unknown person comes to you and names your place of residence, the last name, first name, patronymic of your wife, children, the address of a kindergarten or school. And he says: if you want everything to be fine with them, here is the number of the card where relatives should transfer money. If you refuse, something bad will happen. Depending on the wallet, monthly transfers to the account, or rather, to the common cauldron of the thief in law, amounted to from 5 to 50 thousand rubles from each prisoner.

People who are in places of deprivation of liberty will never admit it. Therefore, measures of protection were applied to the witnesses. If Kipiani knew who it was, they would not have been much troubled. And during the interrogation, Kipiani asked leading questions, trying to understand who these people were. He asked which cell they were in, how the cells were located, in order to understand in which isolation cell they crossed. This, I believe, also helped the jury understand its essence.

Was he threatening, rude?

– Not. He behaved courteously, politely, without raising his voice, without swearing. A well-delivered speech, albeit not a pure command of the Russian language, a clear presentation of his thoughts. And in general, Kipiani is always neat, clean, in a white shirt, ironed.

Andrei Vorontsov explained to us that thieves in law, as a rule, are extraordinary personalities. In the public sector, they would have achieved a lot. But, unfortunately, the thoughts of such people are connected with crime. Of course, they are not geniuses, but very talented people. Literate, educated, well-read.

Kipiani corresponds, in my opinion, to these parameters.

– What moment especially convinced the jury that he was a thief in law?

– It is hard to say. By law and by my principles, I can’t talk to a jury. But they were in the meeting room for quite a long time, 4 hours and 12 minutes. This suggests that they argued and voted, convinced each other. But still came to a unanimous opinion.

“Can you list the evidence that was presented to the jury?” Many items?

– Everything that was presented by the investigation. The main thing is the materials of the operational-search activity, then the testimonies of witnesses, specialists, examined audio-video documents and photos seized from the phone of Kipiani himself.

What is on his phone?

– There were photographs of him with other leaders of criminal groups, thieves in law, he rested with them in an informal setting at dachas, restaurants, and resorts.

But do you have a lot of photos on your phone with the leaders of criminal gangs?

– To be honest, none.

– That’s it. I have been working for more than 20 years in the prosecutor’s office, and perhaps I have photos somewhere with a leader of some kind or a criminal element, but only in the courtroom, where I am a prosecutor, and they are criminals. We don’t stand in an embrace anywhere, we don’t fry kebabs together. And Kipiani’s entire social circle is such characters.

Being a disabled person of the second group, he did not work anywhere, he lived in an apartment with a very good repair, with a lot of expensive alcohol, he drove a Land Rover. He had three iPhones with him, a Honer – a mobile device for 40-50 thousand rubles.

How was he usually received behind bars?

– When he was placed in the isolation ward, he was not led along the common corridor to the cell, but was taken through the utility yard so that the prisoners would not see who was being led. But all the same, everything became known, the prisoners shouted: “Central, attention, they are bringing dad, let’s welcome dad. Thief in law David Tbilissky came to visit us. And from all the cameras they shouted: AUE, AUE (an extremist organization banned in the Russian Federation. – Approx. Aut.). This is how they greeted the thief, thereby confirming that they are fully prepared to carry out his instructions.

Was there anything unusual about his phone?

— How to look. In the dock before us appeared an elderly man, 63 years old, with a huge number of chronic diseases, who, according to him, is illegally prosecuted. And he has birthday greetings on his phone from women of low social responsibility. Video of him riding in his car surrounded by the same women, having fun, dancing with them in a restaurant, and for the rest the restaurant is closed, he sits alone. Around him are five or six priestesses of love, the singers sing songs especially for him…

Further – in his house, half-dressed, the girls, if not completely naked, then half-naked. And not one or two, but three or four.

Accordingly, conversations with other leaders of criminal groups were also filmed (some are hiding abroad), the words: “Greetings to you, brother”, “AUE” (recognized as an extremist organization in the Russian Federation), “Glory to the thief” were heard. There were phrases like: “We need to talk about business, but let’s not talk on the phone, don’t use WhatsApp either, all messengers are tapped, let’s tell through someone where we will meet, we need to resolve the issue, there is a suitable candidate, we need to put on the crown”, or something like that. Or someone was guilty there: such and such committed a vile thing. It is necessary to take action, collect the gangway.

As Ekaterina Korotkova, head of the press service of the Moscow Region Prosecutor’s Office, told MK, the court, taking into account the position of the public prosecutor, sentenced the man to 12 years in prison with a term of 1 year and 6 months in a penal colony with limited freedom. The verdict has not yet entered into force.