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Russian Casino Baron Guilty of Abduction5 August 2003ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – As reported by the Gazeta: “A well-known St Petersburg entrepreneur Mikhail Mirilashvili, whose family runs a chain of casinos and gambling arcades in Russia’s northern capital, has been found guilty of abduction and sentenced to 12 years in a high-security prison. At the same time, the court has acquitted his six accomplices after the prosecutors failed to prove their implication in the murder of the alleged abductors of Mirilashvili’s father. “The Military Court of the Leningrad District (the region around the city of St Petersburg and the military district in this region still bear their Soviet-era names) on Friday sentenced a well-known St Petersburg entrepreneur Mikhail Mirilashvili to 12 years in high-security prison. Mirilashvili was found guilty of a number of crimes, including a plot to abduct two people. “…The court has also dropped the most controversial charge brought against Mirilashvili under Article 105 Part II of the Russian Criminal Code whereby the prosecutors had accused the entrepreneur and another suspect, Yevgeny Kazmirchuk, of masterminding murder of two people, who had allegedly abducted Mirilashvili’s father back in 2000. “Mirilashvili’s father Mikhail was abducted on August 7, 2000. “…The prosecutor’s office of St Petersburg launched criminal investigation into the abduction, but shortly afterwards the case was dropped. However, several months later, in January 2001, Mikhail Mirilashvili Jr. was arrested over charges of complicity in the murder of two people, Rostoma Dvali and Koba Kakushadze. Investigators alleged that the two were killed for their alleged involvement in Mirilashvili Sr.’s abduction. “…RUBOP, [the Northwestern regional directorate for combating organized crime ], investigators believe that Mikhail Mirilashvili had in effect kidnapped Dvali and Kakushadze, endeavouring to swap them for Mirilashvili Sr. When their plan failed they began beating hostages so as to force them to reveal information about the masterminds of abduction but overdid it, and the two men died of injuries…” |