Emergency statement: the organizer of the double murder on the M-4 demanded to acquit him

On July 27, the Krasnodar Regional Court sentenced Demyan Kevorkian to life imprisonment for organizing an attack on the M-4 Don highway. The victims of the bandits were Kirill Chubko, director of the event agency, and 19-year-old Tatiana Mostyko, who worked as an animator. According to the prosecution, it was Kevorkian who directed the actions of Aram Tatosyan and Anatoly Dvoynikov, who lured the couple under the pretext of helping after the car broke down, and then brutally dealt with them. Tatosyan and Dvoynikov repented at the trial, but their "leader" behaved so defiantly that he had to be removed from the courtroom. The details of the hearing on this high—profile criminal case are in the Izvestia material.

What happened on the M-4

According to the case file, Kirill Chubko, director of the event agency, and Tatiana Mostyko, a 19-year-old animator, held an event in Leningradskaya village, Krasnodar Territory, on April 28, 2023, and loaded the props into the car and drove home at night. Both lived in the city of Ust-Labinsk, which is about 1.5 hours away from the village along the highway M-4 "Don". Kirill called his wife, Daria, and warned her that he would be a little late, as a car had a punctured tire near the village of Berezanskaya. The man reassured his wife, saying that there was nothing to worry about: the breakdown was simple, and it should be handled quickly, besides, some strange guys took it upon themselves to help him.

After that, the connection with Kirill Chubko was cut off. His wife began receiving messages about withdrawals from her bank card, and Tatiana Mostyko never returned home.

Relatives of the missing began searching the next morning, and soon Chubko's burnt-out car was found in the forest. According to the ATM camera recordings, it was quickly possible to identify those who were withdrawing money. They turned out to be residents of the Krasnodar Territory with a criminal record, Demyan Kevorkian, Aram Tatosyan and Anatoly Dvoynikov.

All three were detained. During the investigation, they indicated the places where the bodies of the dead were hidden. The examination revealed that Kirill and Tatiana were brutally murdered with a knife — their throats were cut.

How was the process going?

The case was considered by a jury. Speaking in the debate, State Prosecutor Natalia Kalikanova said that the collected evidence adds up to a single picture of a cruel and cynical crime.

According to the prosecution, Demyan Kevorkian, whom the investigation considers to be the organizer of the criminal group, came to Krasnodar Krai to visit his mother in March 2023. By this time, he already had a criminal record: he had previously been sentenced to 18 years in prison for banditry, robbery, extortion causing serious harm to health and illegal arms trafficking.

At his new location, Kevorkian began to prepare plans for robberies against drivers and attracted his friends Anatoly Dvoynikov and Aram Tatosyan to them. According to the investigation, he told each of them that he allegedly owed him 10 million rubles for the business that was lost during his imprisonment. After that, Kevorkian took both of them to the forest and threatened to kill them if they refused to acknowledge the non-existent debt. In order to "repay" him, he offered to participate in the attacks on the M-4 Don highway, and both agreed. On the night of April 28, 2023, three men got into an old Lada and set off for the highway, hoping to find a lone driver to rob.

Noticing Kirill Chubko's stopped car with a damaged wheel, the leader said: "These are our customers, God sent them to us." In order not to scare off the animators, the bandits offered them their help and even dropped Chubko off to their friends for a spare tire. But when the wheel was installed on the car, Tatosyan and Dvoynikov attacked the animators and, having tied them up, began to drive around the surrounding settlements, emptying the victims' bank cards.

Kevorkian then ordered Kirill and Tatiana to be taken to a forest plantation, where Aram Tatosyan slit their throats. After burying the bodies, the bandits burned the victims' car and drove to Kevorkian's mother, where they changed their clothes, throwing away their bloodstained clothes. For participating in the crime, the ringleader gave his accomplices 20,000 rubles each, saying that large amounts would arouse suspicion. In total, according to the investigation's calculations, the criminals received 570 thousand rubles, as well as gold jewelry.

During the trial, Tatosyan and Dvoynikov partially admitted their guilt. Demyan Kevorkian, on the contrary, completely denied his involvement in the crime. During the trial, the ringleader shouted remarks from the spot, interrupted witnesses — as a result, the judge removed him from the courtroom, and the trial went on for a long time without his participation.

On May 18, the jury unanimously found the defendants guilty on all counts and not deserving of leniency. During the debate, the prosecution demanded that the defendants be sentenced to life imprisonment, since the murders were committed with particular brutality, and strangers, including a 19-year-old girl, became victims of the perpetrators.

Speaking on July 27 with the last word, the defendants did not change their positions. Tatosyan and Dvoynikov partially admitted their guilt, repented and asked for forgiveness, stating that they had acted under pressure from Kevorkian. The organizer of the crime himself reiterated that he "absolutely did not agree" with the charges against him. According to him, the evidence was collected with violations and does not confirm the guilt. In conclusion, Kevorkian asked the court to pass an acquittal verdict, and if it turns out to be guilty, to take into account the mitigating circumstances pointed out by the defense in the debate.

However, the court considered the prosecution's arguments more weighty and sentenced Kevorkian to life in prison, Anatoly Dvoynikov to 25 years, and Aram Tatosyan to 24 years in a penal colony.

Lawyer Alexander Zheleznikov, assessing the circumstances of the crime and the verdict of the jury, on which the court relied, called the verdict logical. According to the defender, under such circumstances, it was not necessary to expect a more lenient punishment.