The ex-wife of a member of the Tsapkov gang, Vyacheslav Tsepovyaz, Natalya Strishnyaya and her brother Ivan were released from house arrest after the closure of the extortion case against members of the criminal group, the arrest from their property, including from the lands belonging to Tsepovyaz, was also lifted. On June 11 this was reported to “RIA Novosti” by a source in law enforcement agencies.
“The investigator decided to cancel the preventive measure for the sister and brother of Strishnykh Natalia and Ivan [домашний арест]and also Vyacheslav Tsepovyaz and Vladimir Alekseev [подписка о невыезде]”, – said the interlocutor to the agency.
Among other things, the investigation canceled the arrest of their property, including Ivan Strishny’s Audi car, Natalya Strishnya’s share in the Slava Kubani company in the Kushchevsky district, and Tsepovyaz land plots in the Krasnodar Territory. In addition, the defendants received the right to rehabilitation in this case.
Earlier, the agency’s source said that the case of extortion of about 70 million rubles from a businessman was terminated due to the impossibility of proving the fact of the crime.
Initially, a case of extortion of 70 million rubles in 2010 was opened against Fyodor Streltsov, Alekseev, Tsepovyaz, Vitaly Ivanov, Sergei Tsapok, as well as Natalia and Ivan Strishnikh. However, later, the case against Ivanov and Tsapok was dropped due to their death, and in relation to Streltsov it was separated into a separate proceeding, since he is on the wanted list.
The Strishnikh case was also separated into a separate proceeding, at the end of 2019 it was transferred to the Rostov-on-Don court, but in November it was returned to the prosecutor’s office due to violations. Subsequently, the case was merged with the case of Alekseev and Tsepovyaz, and charges were brought against them.
On November 4, 2010, Sergei Tsapok’s gang killed 12 people, including children, in the village of Kushchevskaya in the Krasnodar Territory, which became one of the most high-profile crimes in modern Russian history. In total, the gang has 19 murders. Tsapok was sentenced to life in prison, but died of illness in 2014 in a pre-trial detention center. Tsepovyaz was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2013.