Krasnoyarsk regional court has begun litigations concerning the case of notorious kingpin Vladimir Tatarenkov a.k.a. Tatarin.

According to The Russian Mafia web-site (rumafia.com), in 1994 Tatarenkov organized a gang to take part in a criminal war to win control over the aluminum industry enterprises in Krasnoyarsk Krai. In May-July 1994 the group members killed eight people. The gang was disclosed in the same year when operatives arrested one of the killers of Cyril Voitenko and Aleksander Naumov, two Krasnoyarsk businessmen. Tatarin managed to escape.

In the course of investigation one more episode was added to Tatarenkov’s counts. It was the murder in Minusinsk of a Moscow criminal don Vladimir Mustafin, who claimed control over aluminum smelters.

In 1997 Krasnoyarsk regional court sentenced six members of the gang to long prison terms and ruled death penalty for another one. Tatarin was arrested in Greece 2 years after. There he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for illegal possession of weapons and forgery. In July 2010 the Greek authorities released Tatarenkov before the end of his prison term and extradited him to Russia at the request of Prosecutor General's Office.

Tatarenkov denies his involvement in the crimes incriminated to him. According to him, the case against him is framed up. During the court hearings he presented a petition demanding the court to review his criminal case and to drop charges of Mustafin’s murder. According to the defendant, the investigation violated the international convention on extradition, according to which the extradited person can be prosecuted only on charges stated as grounds for extradition. According to Tatarenkov, he was extradited to Russia only on charges of murder of Voitenko and Naumov.

The court found the petition untimely. Tatarenkov was recommended to address the court with such petition after all evidence in the case is presented. "Agreement on Extradition, signed by the Greek side, presupposed indicting Tatarenkov of crimes under Art. 17 Part 4 and Art. 102 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, which was done ", explained Olga Shamanskaya, senior assistant to the chief of the Investigative Department.