Penza, 6 December 2013. PenzaNews. The Oktyabrsky District Court of Penza imposed a pre-trial restraint of remand detention to the five participants of the stable armed group known as “Zuevskie” who are suspects of having committed crimes under Parts 1 and 2, Art. 209 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Banditry.”

© PenzaNewsBuy the photo

Earlier, it became known that the alleged organizer of the gang – a member of the Penza region Legislative Assembly of the fifth convocation representing CPRF – Andrei Zuev was also detained.

“Petitioning the court to arrest these individuals, the investigators took into consideration the fact that the suspects could exert pressure on witnesses. Being free, they can escape the preliminary investigation bodies, threaten parties of the criminal proceedings and destroy the evidence. Taking into account these circumstances, the court granted the request of the investigators to take the gang members into custody,” the Senior Assistant of the Head of the Investigative Department of Investigative Committee in Penza, Media relations division, Lyudmila Fomina told news agency “PenzaNews.”

The investigators believe that since the beginning of 2000s Andrei Zuev and five members of the armed group committed a series of crimes involving weapons against entrepreneurs and residents of the Penza region. Currently, five cases are considered within one procedure upon extortion, causing bodily harm, robbery and other crimes.

The detention of the suspects was organized on Wednesday, December 4, at ten addresses at a time.

Commenting on the criminal case against Andrei Zuev, the First Secretary of the Regional Committee of the Communist party, a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Penza region Georgy Kamnev noted that it is of a political nature.

He expressed the opinion that if such group had existed and since the beginning of the 2000s its members had actually committed serious and particularly serious crimes, as claimed by the investigators, then its criminal activities should have been eradicated by law enforcement officials long ago.

The similar point of view was expressed by the Communist Party State Duma Deputy Vladimir Simagin, who said that the case against Andrei Zuev “smells of politics.”