Case against gangster accused of 29 murders to go on trial

MOSCOW, April 14 (Itar-Tass) - The investigation into the criminal
case against leader of the "Orekhovo" gang Sergei Butorin and its active
member Marat Polyansky has been completed, an official at the
Investigation Committee (SK) told Itar-Tass.
"Investigators accuse Butorin of leading a criminal group including
the "Orekhovo" gang, as well as the commission of 29 murders and three
attempted murders. Marat Polyansky is accused of participation in the gang
and the commission of four murders and one attempted murder as a member of
this gang," the SK official said.
All the crimes were committed in 1994-1998. They include the
high-profile murders of Alexander Salonik and Otari Kvantrishvili. "The
accused partially admitted their guilt," the SK said.
Butorin and Polyansky were detained in Spain in February 2001. They
were arrested and given jail terms for illegal possession of weapons.
After serving their sentences in Spain, the accused were extradited to
Russia: Poyansky in 2009 and Butorin in 2010.
"The investigators have carried out much work. As of the time of
completing the probe, the criminal case materials numbered 68 volumes,"
according to the SK official.
The Orekhovo gang began to operate in Moscow from the beginning of
1994. It was led by Sergei Butorin and Dmitry Belkin from March 1996.
In this period the gang merged with the so-called Medvedkovo gang. The
investigators said Orekhovo gangsters had committed murders and attempted
murders in Moscow, Moscow and Vladimir Regions, Greece, and Ukraine. Among
the high-profile crimes are the murders of the chief of the Athletes
Social Protection Foundation Otari Kvantrishvili and the murder in Greece
of a notorious mobster Alexander Salonik and his girlfriend Svetlana
Kotova.