vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #546 / Crime watch / Reading article...

On November 17, four and a half years after the deadly attack, three men faced a Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk court and were declared guilty of an arson which claimed the life of a border guard, Major General Vitaly Gamov.

Alexei Anikin, Alexei Britov and Sergei Malyutin were found guilty of throwing gasoline bombs through the windows of Gamov’s apartment on Sakhalin Island in May 2002. The fire resulting from the Molotov cocktails killed Gamov, severely injured his wife Larissa and caused minor injuries to their 14-year old son.

The three men found guilty in Gamov’s murder await their sentencing in preliminary cells. According to Russia’s criminal law, an arson which causes accidental death can be punished with up to five years imprisonment.

Meanwhile officials blamed Gamov’s murder on Russian criminals involved in the Pacific coast fishing trade, and said he was killed as revenge for his efforts to fight poachers who sell their catch to Japan, South Korea and China.

Sakhalin’s poaching mafia has caused more damage to the rich marine life around the island than any of the oil companies could possibly do. Yet this criminal ring possesses such powerful connections that the local environmental groups would not dare to wage a campaign against them, the Sakhalin Times wrote in their story ‘Justice for Gamov only when poaching mafia is crushed’.

The poachers wouldn’t hesitate at all to use a contract killer to “knock off” an opponent. The “real killers” are still out there and probably living a luxurious life from the proceeds of their illegal trade, the newspaper said.