Sergei Tsapok criminal group accused of murdering 12 people in the Kushchevskaya settlement

Investigation Committee (SK) has brought a criminal charge against eight suspects from the Sergei Tsapok criminal group accused of murdering 12 people in the Kushchevskaya settlement, SK spokesman Vladimir Markin told Itar-Tass on Monday. The criminal group faces charges of a group murder, Markin added.

"Two other members of the criminal group searched for by police will be prosecuted as the defendants," Markin said.

The same criminal group has been suspected of murdering six more people. A 62-year-old man and his 33- year-old son were found dead in the settlement of Kushchevskaya on September 16, 2003. Two members of the Tsapok criminal group, Andrei Bykov and Vitaly Ivanov, are the presumed assassins.

In a separate incident a 61- year-old man was found dead in his house in Kushchevskaya on November 9, 2008 with the signs of forcible death on his body. The investigators have established a link to the Tsapok gang, in particular, to Vladimir Alekseyev, Igor Chernykh and Vitaly Ivanov, the SK spokesman said.

The investigation also proved the Tsapok gang’s involvement in the murder of two young men on June 28, 2010. The assassins opened gunfire at a BMW car, killing two men inside it.

Another victim, a woman, was attacked in the settlement of Kanelovskaya in the Krasnodar territory on August 16. The woman received numerous injuries and was robbed of money and valuables totally worth 500,000 roubles. The Tsapok gang, including the ringleader himself and his fellow bandits, Vladimir Alekseyev, Igor Chernykh and Sergei Karpenko, are believed responsible for the incident.

The investigation also suspects the Tsapok gang of one more murder committed on the ringleader’s order by Sergei Ryabtsev and Andrei Bykov who were armed with a shotgun and a pneumatic pistol.