A Russian Urals-based lawyer arrested a month ago on suspicion of killing a U.S. citizen was a member of an organized criminal group that carried out at least 41 murders, Life News reported on Wednesday citing a local police source.
Vasily Fedorovich, 29, was arrested on July 19 during an investigation into the murder of Armenia-born Georgy Yakubyan whose mutilated body was found in a garage in the outskirts of Yekaterinburg. The young lawyer attempted to commit suicide shortly after being detained.
“There are reasons to believe that Fedorovich is a member of a large criminal gang, which operated in Yekaterinburg, Moscow, and St. Petersburg,” the police source said.
Dozens of other members of the group, including several women, have also been arrested. They admitted to the murders of at least 41 people and indicated the locations where the bodies had been buried.
So far, at least 13 bodies have been excavated.
“Their motives for the murders varied. They killed migrants under Nazi slogans and also carried out murders as hired killers,” the source said.
Fedorovich, who is known to be a fan of guns and knives, has also been accused of kidnapping and rape.
He has been under investigation in connection with the widely-publicized Volkssturm neo-Nazi gang case in Yekaterinburg. Group leaders were sentenced to various jail terms in 2011, but Fedorovich and other Volkssturm members were acquitted.
