Axis Movement: why was the leader of the Orekhovskaya organized crime group transferred to Moscow

Sergei Butorin, the leader of the Orekhovskaya organized crime group, known as Osya, was brought to Moscow to testify as a witness, Izvestia found out. In 2011, he was sentenced to life in prison. He is serving time in the Polar Owl colony in Yamal, but has been in pre-trial detention center No. 2 Butyrka for almost a month. Butorin's awareness of the customers and perpetrators of particularly serious crimes of the 1990s may lead to the disclosure of new episodes and the arrest of other gang members, lawyers believe. According to them, such trips provide prisoners with the opportunity to change their environment, get additional meetings with relatives and defenders, and in some cases, to mitigate the conditions of detention.

Who is Sergey Butorin?

The leader of the Orekhovskaya organized crime group, Sergei Butorin, known as Osya, has been transferred to Moscow, a source told Izvestia. A criminal authority is a witness in a criminal case and gives evidence. He has been in pre-trial detention center No. 2 "Butyrka" for almost a month, our interlocutor noted.

Butorin, who is serving a life sentence for leading an organized criminal community and a series of murders, may have valuable information about the crimes. The investigation is probably interested in unsolved episodes of the Orekhovskaya group's activities, the source believes. After the interrogations, Butorin will be returned to the Polar Owl colony, which is located in the village of Kharp in Yamal, he added.

Sergei Butorin became the head of the group in 1994 after the death of its former leader Sergei Timofeev, known as Sylvester. He was able to subdue the backbone of two groups at once — Orekhovskaya and Medvedkovsky. It was under Butorin's leadership that the Orekhovskys became famous for their brutality and became one of the most formidable groups in Moscow.

Butorin could have given the order to eliminate one of the group's members for the slightest offense. He spared neither enemies nor competitors. So, the court found him guilty of the murders of crime boss Otari Kvantrishvili, known as Sherkhan, and killer Alexander Solonik, known as "Sasha the Great." In total, he was found guilty of organizing the murders and attempted murders of 38 people.

In an attempt to escape justice, Butorin faked his own death in 1996 and fled the country. He was detained in a Barcelona suburb only in 2001, and then extradited to Russia. In September 2011, Osya received a life sentence.

Butorin stated at the trial that he did not admit his guilt. And in 2022, he expressed a desire to sign a contract and go to the area of his military training.

Can Butorin's conditions of serving his sentence be mitigated

The law provides for the procedure by which a prisoner from any region can be sent to another entity for investigative actions, assigning him the status of a witness, Alexey Gavrishev, head of AVG Legal, told Izvestia.

"Most of the prisoners, especially from such remote places as the Polar Owl, seek to get to Moscow," he noted. — Thus, they get some opportunity to find themselves in the circle of not serious criminals, but people whose guilt has often not yet been proven, fraudsters. Of course, these are more pleasant conditions for them to stay in.

In addition, the convicts, according to Alexey Gavrishev, have more opportunities to meet with relatives and lawyers.

Even with a life sentence, cooperation with the investigation can play a role in mitigating the conditions of serving a sentence, Ekaterina Kutuzova, a practicing lawyer at the Adyghe Republican Bar Association, added. This may be a transfer to another colony, improvement of living conditions, or provision of additional visits with relatives.

— But from the point of view of the legal perspective, it is extremely difficult to count on a review of the sentences themselves. Nevertheless, in practice, there are cases when life convicts try to improve their status by testifying in other cases," she explained.

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The value of Butorin's testimony lies primarily in his awareness of the internal structure of the Orekhovskaya organized crime group, financial schemes, customers and perpetrators of particularly serious crimes of the 1990s, Ekaterina Kutuzova believes.

"His information may lead to the disclosure of new episodes, the arrest of other gang members — both those already known to the investigation, and those who appeared only in operational materials or did not come to the attention of law enforcement officers at all," she said.

Kutuzova did not rule out that after Butorin's interrogations were completed, new defendants or even new criminal cases related to the activities of the Orekhovskaya organized crime group would appear.

"The investigation is clearly interested in getting as much information as possible, as long as one of the key witnesses is willing to cooperate," the lawyer noted.

As a rule, the investigative authorities summon prisoners to conduct investigative actions for a month, Alexey Gavrishev explained. However, this period may then be extended several times, so Butorin's stay in Moscow may be delayed.