Riots in Biryulev West

At about 2 a.m. from October 9 to 10, 2013, when 25-year-old Yegor Shcherbakov and his girlfriend Ksenia Popova were returning home, an unknown man approached them at the entrance of their house on Vostryakovsky passage , with whom Shcherbakov had a conflict that grew into a brawl ^{[ 4]} , during which Shcherbakov received a stab in the back and died on the spot as a result of a penetrating wound in the heart, and the unknown disappeared ^{[6] [7] [8]} .

The suspect, who, according to the frames of the video surveillance cameras (according to other sources, according to the testimony of the girlfriend of the murdered Ksenia Popova), was presumably a “southerner” ^[9] , “a native of Central Asia or the Caucasus” ^[10], or “an immigrant visitor” ^[11] was put on the wanted list ^[12] . Police compiled and distributed the identikit of the alleged killer. Representatives of the special services joined in the search for the criminal ^[8] .

On October 14, the head of the metropolitan police, Anatoly Yakunin, at a meeting in the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the city of Moscow, stated that “the suspect is established” and that “this is not a citizen of the Russian Federation” ^[13] . It was also reported that the killer was an Azerbaijani ^[14] from Shamkhor ^[15] .

October 15 was named after him - a native of Azerbaijan Orkhan Zeynalov born in 1982 ^[16] . Later that day, he was detained in Kolomna and transported by helicopter to Moscow. Finding Zeynalov helped his landlord Alexei Pronkin, who recognized him in a television plot. For help in catching the criminal Pronkin will be paid a reward of one million rubles ^{[17] [18]} .

According to the Kommersant newspaper, the investigation succeeded in reaching Zeynalov only after FSB officers threatened the Azerbaijani diaspora with “business problems” ^[19] .

In 2010, the magistrate's court of judicial district No. 64 in the Moscow district of Yasenevo found Zeynalov guilty of an offense under Part 4 of Article 12.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, and deprived him of the right to drive a vehicle for a period of five months because he had previously been repeatedly called upon to administrative responsibility for traffic violations ^[20] .

On May 6, 2014, the Investigative Committee of Russia announced the completion of the preliminary investigation in the criminal case. Orkhan Zeynalov was charged as an accused of committing a crime under paragraph “i” of part 2 of article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (murder committed out of hooligan motives). The indictment was approved and, together with the criminal case, after some time sent to the Moscow City Court ^[21] for consideration in open court.

On July 28, 2014, the Moscow City Court found Orkhan Zeynalov guilty of the murder of Yegor Shcherbakov. Zeynalov was sentenced to 17 years in prison with a sentence of imprisonment in a maximum security penal colony and with restriction of liberty for a period of 1 year 6 months, as well as the payment of 3 million rubles of compensation to the family of the deceased.

On October 11, a photo of the suspect obtained from an outdoor surveillance camera was published in all nationalist communities on social networks ^[4] .

At about 10 pm on October 12, about 40 local residents came to the district police department to demand an immediate investigation into the killing. The participants demanded to close the vegetable base located in the region, on which a large number of foreign workers work, and also to tighten migration legislation. Alexander Polovinka, the acting department of internal affairs in the Southern Administrative District of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Moscow, met with the audience, who spoke about the work already done and promised that law enforcement would take all measures to search for the killer. According to police, after half an hour people dispersed ^{[22] [23] [8]} , but on the same night an announcement about the place and time of the new “popular gathering” was posted on social networks ^[4] .

On October 13, the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the city of Moscow reported that the murder investigation was under the personal control of the head of the department, Anatoly Yakunin, and a reward of 1 million rubles was announced for providing information that could help detain the suspect ^[22] . The Investigative Committee of Russia also stated that the case was taken under the control of the Investigative Committee and “transferred to the department for the investigation of especially important cases of the Central Investigative Office of the Investigative Committee of Russia in the city of Moscow” ^[24] . A. Half again met with local "civic activists" and discussed with them the creation of popular squads to patrol the streets and speedy detention of a criminal suspected of murder ^[25] .

By four in the afternoon, local residents and some young people who looked like football fans began to gather on Vostryakovsky passage . According to various sources, the number of people gathered was up to 200 people ^[26] . The police and riot police were pulled to the gathering place. Later it was reported that in all, up to 10 buses with riot police were involved in the riot suppression operation ^[11] . The participants in the meeting were warned that “any attempts to violate public order and the current legislation of the Russian Federation will be stopped by police officers” ^[8] .

At first, the situation developed peacefully: one of the leaders of the “Russians” movement, Alexander Belov, arrived at the meeting with the head of the district administration, Viktor Legavin, who said that youth national squads would be created in the region. People in response began to complain about the "dominance of migrants" and the local fruit and vegetable base, which allegedly became a hotbed of crime ^[4] . There were demands for the resignation of Victor Legavin and the leadership of the local 137th police station ^[26] .

Soon, however, the situation got out of control: not satisfied with the official’s speech, part of the audience spontaneously went to the Biryuza shopping center, located on neighboring Bulatnikovskaya Street : someone in the crowd said that migrants work there ^[4] .

About two dozen people burst into the lobby of the shopping center, breaking windows and throwing fires , which led to a fire ^{[4] [27]} . As a result of clashes with riot police called to pacify the crowd ^[28], five policemen, including the battalion commander, were slightly injured ^[29] . Seven people were detained, but it was not possible to bring them to the police station: the crowd, chanting “Let out” and “Russia for the Russians!”, Surrounded a police car trying to drive along Bulatnikovskaya Street. As a result, the shuttle truck returned to the mall, and the detainees were released ^[4] .

As a result of the riots, traffic on Kharkovskaya Street and Vostryakovsky Drive towards the center was almost paralyzed ^[30] . According to various estimates, from two ^[31] to six thousand people ^[32] took part in the spontaneous rally. In addition to the “newcomers,” the discontent of the local residents was caused by the actions of local authorities, in particular the head of the Biryulyovo Zapadnoy district administration Viktor Legavin and the leadership of the 137th police station ^[33] . Demands were expressed for the creation of "people's squads" to search for the killer ^[34] . Nationalists took part in the riots, who chanted the slogans “ Russia for the Russians ”, “Moscow for the Muscovites” and “Russia, forward” ^[35] (according to other sources, confirmed by the videos, “Russians, forward!”) ^[36] .

On the evening of October 13, protesters smashed the Pokrovskaya fruit and vegetable base, owned by Novye Cheryomushki CJSC, which mainly employed migrants. They approached the vegetable warehouse from the side of Podolsky Cadets Street , having previously blocked traffic on it. The number of participants in the procession was estimated at 1000 people, although a much smaller number of people entered the territory of the base ^[37] . A little earlier it was reported that riot police did not allow a pogrom at a vegetable warehouse ^[38] . In Moscow, the Volcano plan was introduced, providing for a special police mobilization regime ^[39] . Manezhnaya Square in the center of Moscow was blocked ^[40] .

Participants in the riots beat the natives of the Caucasus and Central Asia they met ^[4] . At about eight o’clock in the evening, a clash between “fans” and “Caucasians” occurred on Podolsky Cadets Street; five people were hospitalized ^[41] . One of the groups of participants of the rally reached the Biryulyovo-Tovarnaya railway platform, where it defeated the camber with watermelons and turned over the Zhiguli ^[4] standing nearby, after which it was detained by the police ^[42] . There were detained 14 NBP activists with gas canisters ^[43] .

The instigators and rioters were charged with hooliganism ^[44] . On October 14, at 01:23 in the Southern District , 400 people were detained for disturbing public order, including several dozen members of informal nationalist organizations ^[45] .

On the afternoon of October 14, during a police raid at a vegetable warehouse, 1245 people were detained, of which 214 were illegal migrants. A car was also discovered in the cabin of which several million rubles, traumatic and cold weapons, as well as baseball bats ^{[46] [47] were found} .

The activity of the vegetable warehouse has been suspended; inspections have begun at other similar enterprises and in the housing stock, where a large number of migrants live, ^[48] .

The chief state sanitary doctor of Russia Gennady Onishchenko said that, according to preliminary results of the check of the Biryulev vegetable warehouse, there is every reason to close it forever ^[49] .

More than 1000 trucks with fruits and vegetables worth a total of about 3 billion rubles remained blocked at the base territory ^[50] .

• On October 15, the head of the police department in the West Biryulyovo district, police lieutenant colonel Gennady Kaverin, was relieved of his post ^[51] . A statement was also made about the release of the Chief of the Internal Affairs Directorate for South Administrative District Major General of Police Alexander Podolny ^[52] .
• The court fined 14 detainees under articles 20.2 (organization of mass simultaneous stay and movement of citizens in public places that entailed violation of public order) and 20.1 (petty hooliganism) in the amount of 500 to 3 thousand rubles. One person was attracted and fined 1,000 rubles for disobeying the lawful requirements of law enforcement officials (Article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).
• As of October 15, 2013, three people were involved in the criminal case of hooliganism - two Muscovites and one resident of the Moscow Region (the article provides for up to seven years in prison) ^[53] .
• On February 17, 2014, the persons involved in the case of the events in the Moscow region of Biryulyovo Zapadnoy Timur Musikaev, Andrei Titarenko and Artem Novikov were amnestied and were released from custody ^[54] .
• On October 15, an attempt was made to hold an unauthorized rally against ethnic crime in the Prague metro area. As a result, two nearby shopping centers were temporarily shut down ^[55] . Protesters frustrated their discontent in parked cars ^[56] . About 300 people were detained for aggressive behavior ^[57] .
• Concerning the leaders of the Biryulevskaya vegetable warehouse (Gadzhiev, Churilov), criminal cases were instituted regarding the organization of illegal immigration (paragraph “a” of part 2 of article 322.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) ^[58] .
• On June 16, 2014, the leaders of the Biryulevskaya vegetable warehouse (Churilov, Kotelevsky) were transferred from jail to house arrest ^[59] .
• On November 1, Moscow Mayor S. S. Sobyanin fired the prefect of the Southern Administrative Okrug, G. V. Smoleevsky, and the head of the Biryulyovo Zapadnoy district administration, Viktor Legavin ^{[60] [61]} . On November 8, 2013, Aleksey Chelyshev was appointed prefect of the Southern Administrative District ^[62] .

• Ksenia Popova, the girl of the deceased Yegor Shcherbakova, made a statement on the Moscow 24 television channel in which she condemned the protest rally, which grew into clashes. According to her, it is important for Shcherbakov’s relatives that a killer be found, but they don’t want the escalation of violence and the use of murder as a pretext for inciting ethnic hatred ^{[63] [64]} .
• Doctor of Sociology, Vladimir Mukomel, head of the xenophobia and extremism prevention sector of the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is convinced that "much of the dissatisfaction with migrants is constructed." In his opinion, residents of Biryulyovo and other similar urban outskirts are dissatisfied primarily with their own situation, regardless of the role of visitors ^[65] .
• Hero of Russia Magomed Tolboev , honorary president of the Novye Cheryomushki (CJSC) company, which manages the vegetable warehouse in Biryulyovo, accuses the police and local authorities of the incident ^{[66] [67]} .
• According to Mikhail Starshinov, a member of the central headquarters of the All-Russian Popular Front , this murder and the subsequent speeches are “the result of the inaction of local authorities and the police” ^[8] .
• Svetlana Gannushkina , chairman of the Civic Assistance Committee and a member of the Presidential Council for the Promotion of Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights, believes that, unlike the riots on Manezhnaya Square in 2010, when only the nationalists were among the protesters, they now joined them ordinary people who are convinced that all the troubles come from immigrants, and the election campaign for mayor of Moscow only added fuel to the fire ^[68] .

Officials

• Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Moscow, Polad Bulbul-oglu, believes that “hysteria” should not have been caused by ordinary domestic murder ^{[69] [70]} , and also believes that the detention of Orkhan Zeynalov was carried out in violation of the law ^[71] .

• Migration situation in Russia

• Gridasov, A .; Kochegarov, P. Biryulyovo tried to extinguish the "Volcano" ( electronic version of the article: After the murder in Biryulyovo in Moscow, the "Volcano" woke up) // News . - 2013. - No. 192/28 946 (October 14). - S. 1, 4.
• Kozlova, N .; Falaleev, M .; Fedosenko, V. A knife in the heart // Russian newspaper . Capital issue. - 2013. - No. 230/6206 (October 14).

• Riots in Biryulyovo: a chronicle of events // RIA Novosti
• Mayhem in Biryulyovo. Chronicle of events // Big city
• Investigation of the murder in Biryulyovo // A selection of articles on the RIA Novosti website
• Biryulevskoy uprising // | NDP
• Turquoise riot // lenta.ru
• Rioting erupts in Moscow after killing blamed on migrant (en) Reuters