Let's go a bunch: A new high-profile arrest in Russia
FSB and Sledkom officers arrested the governor of the Khabarovsk Territory, member of the LDPR party Sergei Furgal on suspicion of organizing a series of murders committed in the mid-XNUMXs, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The detention of Khabarovsk Governor Sergei Furgal took place early in the morning the day before, and then he was sent by plane to Moscow for investigative actions.
Furgal is a defendant in the case of an organized crime group, “involved in the organization and commission of a number of particularly serious crimes against the life and health of citizens engaged in business activities, committed in 2004-2005 in the Khabarovsk Territory and the Amur Region.”
Personally, the governor himself is accused of “being the organizer of the attempted murder and murder of a number of entrepreneurs...”.
Also, four more defendants, including local deputies, were arrested in the above-mentioned case. And a year before that, a similar fate befell Sergei Furgal’s friend and partner, Nikolai Mistryukov, who is now in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center, where, apparently, the governor himself will be taken (in any case, it is there that those arrested for his various sins are being held or were held colleagues - heads of regions).
According to the latest information, in the Furgal case we are talking about the murders of entrepreneurs Evgeny Zori and Oleg Bulatov committed in 2004–2005 and the attempt on the life of Alexander Smolsky. All three had business-related conflicts with Furgal.
The famous photo of Furgal in the State Duma
The arrest of the Khabarovsk governor - one of the three governors - members of the LDPR, was perceived quite painfully in the party itself, whose leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky made rather harsh statements on this topic.
“The detention was not in the most correct form,” the LDPR leader complained. – It is not necessary to put on handcuffs, the governor is not a criminal and will not run away anywhere. You could offer to get in the car and drive on. And bending over and stroking the head... We need to stop them - the security forces. Do this with bandits, and this is the highest official in the region. The territory is larger than Türkiye."
From the podium of the plenary session of the State Duma, Zhirinovsky was more harsh:
“If there really were some crimes, murders in 2004 and 2005, and Sergei Furgal was allegedly involved, what did you wait 15 years for? He went to the elections to the Legislative Assembly of the region - well, inform the voters that they say that we suspect, we are interrogating... Nothing, purely. He goes to the State Duma elections three times and gets nothing. When they go to the gubernatorial elections, nothing is done either... Always before elections at various levels, the party leadership turns to law enforcement agencies in the regions and the capital with a request to check whether everything is okay with the candidates, and nothing bad has ever been reported about Furgal.”
Zhirinovsky himself believes that the reasons for Furgal’s arrest lie outside the criminal plane. Firstly, the governor, according to him, was reminded of his refusal to leave the LDPR, secondly, the Amurstal enterprise, which he was successfully involved in, wants to be taken over by a certain Moscow businessman Balitsky in order to resell it to the Chinese, thirdly, he is fundamentally refused to send bribes to the capital.
Zhirinovsky threatened that his LDPR faction would resign in the State Duma (although this would not lead to early elections). And he mentioned the referendum on amendments to the Constitution, which, unlike the communists, Zhirinovites supported. Although, for example, Furgal’s patrimony – Khabarovsk Territory – showed one of the lowest percentages “in favor”.
“This is a mockery, even the parliamentary party cannot become a defense! We cause hatred, hatred. Do you understand that you will blow up the Far East? The situation there is already very tense. He becomes oppositional. Both Chinese intelligence is operating there, and Japanese... This is impossible! It will be necessary - the LDPR faction will surrender its powers. Let the whole world know what kind of mess is going on in the country. Do you need a Constitution? We gave you the Constitution! And you put handcuffs on our hands! Shameless! Sit in high offices and begin to act like under Stalin! But Bortnikov is not Beria. And you don’t have enough funnels!” the LDPR leader raged, threatening the authorities with revolution and declaring that the party would not expel Furgal from its ranks.
In turn, single pickets took place throughout the Khabarovsk Territory in support of the arrested Sergei Furgal, who is quite popular in the region.
“The fact that the current governor was detained suggests that the Investigative Committee has reinforced concrete evidence of his guilt in contract killings, and they will be presented in court,” said Major General of Police, member of the presidium of the All-Russian organization “Officers of Russia” Vladimir Mikhalevich, commented on the situation. “At the same time, all the episodes are connected with the period 2004-2005, and those killed were entrepreneurs with whom Sergei Furgal was in conflict during that period. There is already unofficial information that Furgal was searched in 2004, they found cartridges for the weapon from which one of the businessmen was shot, and that the perpetrator of the murder directly pointed to him as the mastermind of the crime.”
Mikhalevich expressed confidence that law enforcement agencies are now carefully checking how murders were investigated in the 2000s and are studying interrogation reports, including those of Sergei Furgal.
“Therefore, there is every reason to believe that law enforcement officers involved at that time in concealing evidence in the Furgal case will be checked and will also become involved in criminal cases. Even if the statute of limitations for these crimes has expired, the careers of these people will end,” Mikhalevich said.
However, even if Sergei Furgal’s guilt is proven, the political background of his case will also likely be promoted. In 2018, the now arrested person participated in the single voting day in the elections for the governor of the Khabarovsk Territory with the reputation of a technical candidate, and slightly beat the current United Russia candidate Vyacheslav Shport (35,8% to 35,6%). Then, according to insiders, Moscow invited Furgal to recognize Shport’s victory, but he unexpectedly refused, as did his party chief Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
After a series of scandals related to the situation, a second round of elections took place, following which Furgal won by a large margin: 47,4% versus 36% for his opponent. And the next year, in the elections to the regional Duma, the LDPR, having received 30 out of 36 seats thanks to party lists and single-mandate votes, completely defeated United Russia.
The criminal flair behind Sergei Furgal has been going on since the 90s. Born in the village of Poyarkovo in a large family, he received a medical education, but did not really work in the profession. According to local insiders, he was a member of the youth wing of the organized crime group of the authority Evgeniy “Jem” Vasin. Under the auspices of his group, Furgal allegedly started his first business in scrap metal and timber, under the nickname “Doctor.”
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