About the project

Criminal cases of serious crimes typically remain inaccessible to the general public. Proceedings are held in closed sessions, transcripts are unavailable, and verdicts are published with major redactions.

In this case 8 people received life imprisonment, yet all of them pleaded not guilty. The defense maintains that no direct evidence of guilt was presented, and that several findings established by the court legally contradict the prosecution's construction.

This archive exists so that anyone — a journalist, a human-rights defender, a lawyer, a relative, or simply an interested person — can read the materials and form their own conclusions.

In accordance with Russian personal data legislation, the following information is automatically redacted in the texts:

• Names of witnesses, victims and other private individuals (except procedural participants)
• All phone numbers
• All addresses (with house, building or apartment number)
• Passport data, SNILS, individual TIN
• Email addresses, IP addresses
• SIM card serial numbers (ICC), device IMEIs
• Bank card numbers

Not redacted:

• Names of the 8 defendants (publicly disclosed by the verdict)
• Names of judges, prosecutors, defense counsel and investigators (procedural role)
• Legal entity TIN and OGRN
• Geographic references (cities, regions, streets without house numbers)
• Dates (any)