Vladimir resident sentenced to 9 years for plotting to kidnap, murder Suzdal mayor
VORONEZH. Aug 11 (Interfax) - The Leninsky District Court of Vladimir has convicted local resident Lev Kruglov on the counts of plotting to kidnap and murder the Suzdal mayor, the Vladimir regional department of the Russian Investigative Committee said in a report.
Kruglov was sentenced to nine years in a maximum-security penitentiary and one year of supervised release.
The court established that Kruglov, who lived in a rented apartment and worked as a manager of a retail company, decided to improve his material status with a crime in fall 2015.
Kruglov choose the Suzdal mayor as his victim. He studied information about the mayor's financial status online and decided to abduct him for extorting 10 million rubles and to murder him afterwards. Kruglov asked his acquaintance to help find accomplices.
In March 2016, Kruglov rented a garage in a remote Vladimir neighborhood to store construction tools, knives and other instruments he intended to use for torture and murder. He intended to transport the mayor's body in the trunk of his car and to bury it in a waste dump.
The acquaintance whom Kruglov had contacted informed the Federal Security Service of the pending crime and took part in the investigative procedures. Three operatives of the Vladimir regional criminal investigation department posed as accomplices, the regional prosecution service said in a report.
Kruglov was taken into custody on March 25, 2016, before he could commit the crime.
He was charged with plotting abduction, major extortion and murder as a cover for another crime.
Kruglov underwent a forensic psychiatric examination, which revealed an organic personality disorder, but he was found sane and not committed to hospital.
Kruglov was threatening officers of the Russian Investigative Committee and the Federal Security Service in court and described his trial as provocation.
