Story By: Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency: Newsflash
A mobster who was the right-hand man of a ruthless Russian mafia organisation that is believed to have orchestrated the murders of dozens of people is set to stand trial and charged with even more murders.
Artur Dzhioev, described by Russian prosecutors as one of the key members of a gang of killers, operating under the leadership of notorious jailed godfather Aslan ‘Dzhako’ Gagiev, has been charged with 17 murders, attempted murders and kidnappings, among other charges.
He had already been jailed for 17 years in 2019 for orchestrating the murders of dozens of people and now investigators in Moscow have completed an investigation into even more murders of which Dzhioev is alleged to be responsible.
The Moscow Regional Court will now try the defendant, who “agreed the claims of the investigation” as part of a deal “to avoid a life sentence”.
The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation said in a statement on Tuesday, 7th June that the criminal organisation was responsible for “several dozen contract killings and assassination attempts.”
Prosecutors allege that “since 2004 Artur Dzhioev was an active member of the criminal community under the leadership of Aslan Gagiev and participated in crimes committed on the territory of North Ossetia, Moscow and the Moscow region.”
They said that he became the factory leader of the organization on behalf of Gagiev “no later than November 2010”.
Prosecutors said that Dzhioev led the group, “which was actually a structural subdivision of the gang of killers created by Gagiev”.
They said that Dzhioev was the leader of this subdivision and that he “enjoyed special confidence” from Gagiev while acting “as a coordinator between him and the direct perpetrators of the murders, planned crimes and participated in them himself.”
Dzhioev, like Aslan Gagiev, fled abroad after “having come to the attention of law enforcement agencies”, according to Moscow prosecutors, before attempting to settle in Greece, where he lived, using a passport and a driving license in the name of Bulgarian citizen Milcho Indzhov.
But he was detained in 2015 and extradited back to Russia in 2018. In 2019, Dzhioev was sentenced to 17 years in a penal colony.
And now prosecutors say that they are bringing a second case against him after investigating for nearly three years.
It is currently unclear when the trial is set to take place.
Dzhioev’s boss Aslan ‘Dzhako’ Gagiyev, who has reportedly fathered as many as 22 children, led the criminal organisation known as “The Family,” according to Russian police.
