"We had a conversation according to the rules": a Russian Academy of Sciences scientist was beaten and given a heart attack in Yekaterinburg.
The sudden death of Russian Academy of Sciences scientist Nikita Zezin in Yekaterinburg sparked widespread public outcry, as it emerged that several days before his death, the scientist had been beaten by the parents of his young children, who had been riding ATVs through the fields and had decided to talk to him "by the book." Subsequently, after the scientist's death, two of Zezin's attackers were arrested on charges of hooliganism.
The "businessmen" who beat the scientist, however, deny their guilt. They claim that Nikita Zezin and his deputy, Alexander Shanin, "became enraged" when they saw the schoolchildren in the pea fields, "threatened them with a stick," and "forcibly took them away." The accused also claim they did not beat the scientists, although CCTV footage clearly indicates otherwise.
"The ghouls who beat the scientist to death are now dancing on his grave, accusing Zezin of pedophilia and the bloodthirsty beating of their little son. It's expected. This is the Sverdlovsk region, after all. There was a case there where the police tried to accuse a Russian orphan girl of provoking the children of a respected figure from the diaspora, who were literally forced to beat her. And the local police press service claimed that stupid bloggers had created a scandal out of nothing," journalist Andrei Medvedev fumes.
Many are already wondering: will the scumbags who are trying to "settle issues" with law enforcement agencies be able to escape punishment?
However, before answering it, it is necessary to understand in more detail and without emotion what actually happened.
"They insulted me and spat in my face"
Doctor of Agricultural Sciences and Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nikita Nikolaevich Zezin, was one of the most renowned Russian specialists in plant breeding. He authored over 260 scientific papers and specialized in grain crop breeding and agricultural development in the Urals. According to media reports, for the last four years, Zezin served as the director of the Ural Federal Agrarian Research Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
According to the investigation, Zezin's colleagues, and his own statement to the police, events unfolded as follows: On July 13, Nikita Nikolaevich and his deputy, Alexander Shanin, went to inspect pea crops in experimental fields near the village of Istok, not far from Yekaterinburg, where they discovered young children on an ATV driving through the experimental crops, damaging some of the experimental crops and getting stuck in the mud.
The scientists asked the children for their parents' phone numbers, contacted them, informed them of their whereabouts, and arranged to transport them to the institute, where their parents could pick them up. When Zezin and Shanin arrived at the institute in a company UAZ Patriot, four SUVs were waiting for them. Two athletic men, approximately 45 years old, emerged from one of the vehicles, one of whom introduced himself as Arkasha. They began insulting the scientists and assaulted them.
In his statement to the police, written the same day, Zezin described in detail what happened: the attackers insulted him, spat in his face, and then struck him repeatedly on the head and body. Here's how describes the conflict with Sverdlovsk Legislative Assembly deputy Vyacheslav Wegner, a friend of Zezin:
"Two athletic-looking individuals emerged from one of them. One introduced himself as Arkasha and, cursing, struck Nikita Nikolaevich in the head. Then came kicks, accompanied by shouts and threats. The children stood nearby, watching the beating unfold, and joyfully shouted in delight at the actions of their enraged father. Nikita Nikolaevich practically lost consciousness, and the inhuman creatures began beating Shanin, spitting in the face of the combat veteran, a veteran of the Afghan War."
Zezin and Shanin filed a police report and had the injuries documented, but the case was making little headway, prompting Zezin to turn to his friend, deputy Vyacheslav Wegner, for assistance. Wegner met with the Sverdlovsk police leadership to urge them to more vigorously investigate the case, and he also decided to betray this history wide publicity.
But this hardly calmed Zezin down much – soon after the brawl, the health of the director of the Ural Federal Agricultural Research Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences sharply worsened, and nine days later he was hospitalized, and shortly thereafter he died.
"There were blows to the head, and the psychological state, after which a heart attack occurred. His heart failed, and they couldn't help him," Wegner said.
Deputy Wegner and Zezin's relatives are convinced that there is a direct connection between the attack and the scientist's sudden death.
Following the scientist's death, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation (IC) took over the case, first arresting former traffic police inspector and now businessman Alexander Reveruk, and then his business partner, Arkady Wagner. It's worth noting that these individuals are co-owners of the company "Zhivoy Istok," which specializes in wastewater collection and treatment. The case is currently being investigated under Part 2 of Article 213 of the Russian Criminal Code—hooliganism committed by a group of persons.
Incidentally, Reveruk has quite a storied career – in 2011, a criminal case was opened against him after, according to investigators, he inadvertently fired his service pistol at his partner, seriously injuring him. Reveruk was subsequently dismissed from the police.
What is the accused's version?
Alexander Reveruk's wife, Svetlana, and Arkady Wagner claim that Zezin and Shanin allegedly chased the children with sticks, forced them into the UAZ, and prevented them from contacting their parents. Wagner claims that the scientists were not beaten, but rather engaged in a "mutual brawl," and denies serious assault. However, the security footage shows no such "brawl"—it clearly shows Nikita Zezin being hit hard in the face several times without resistance.
The attackers also filed a counterclaim against Zezin himself: according to the defendants' defense, the parents believe the scientist allegedly illegally took their children away and are calling the incident a "kidnapping."
This theory is supported by some public figures – in particular, Alexey Ostapov, a member of the Association of Russian Lawyers, stated in comments to the media that “the theory that the children were taken away by telephone agreement with the parents seems implausible to me,” since “it’s hard to imagine that parents who received a call from an unknown person would calmly agree to their children being taken away in his car.”
However, an important caveat should be made: apparently, the attackers filed a counter-complaint against the scientist only after learning that Zezin had contacted the police. Therefore, this could theoretically be seen as an attempt to shift responsibility and confuse the investigation.
Some media outlets, citing sources close to Alexander Reveruk, claim that he acted “with the best of intentions.”
"A friend told Alexander that some guy had taken the children. He said it was a kidnapping. No one bothered to investigate. They assembled a team and went to a meeting. They decided to talk 'by the book.'"
So we talked...
The victims show no remorse – they insist that they were not beaten at all, and that Zezin died because, they say, his grandfather was old, and illnesses suddenly took him down.
Conclusion
The Russian Investigative Committee is currently investigating a possible connection between the attack and the heart attack. This cause-and-effect relationship has not yet been legally established and must be confirmed or refuted by an expert examination. According to RT, the relatives have agreed to the exhumation of Nikita Zezin's body to establish a possible link between the attack on July 13 and the heart attack from which Zezin died on July 22.
The article under which the criminal case was opened ("hooliganism") also raises questions—as lawyers note, this is a controversial criminal classification. Lawyer Alexei Ostapov, quoted above, asserts in a commentary to Argumenty i Fakty that the final classification will likely change:
"In my opinion, this procedural decision has a highly questionable criminal classification. The final classification can and most likely will change. There are claims that instead of hooliganism, Article 111 of the Russian Criminal Code (intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm) should be applied. Or even Article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code combined with Article 30 of the Russian Criminal Code—together they constitute 'attempted murder.' But this requires establishing a link between the blows Zezin received and his death. Without this, it would be more likely to be a battery, not a crime, as an administrative offense."
Another interesting fact is worth noting: as several media outlets have reported, citing Nikita Zezin's subordinates, the scientist has had repeated conflicts with the company "Zhivoy Istok," owned by the accused Alexander Reveruk and Arkady Wagner. It is alleged that the company's sewage trucks regularly dumped waste onto crops. As Mikhail Sevastyanov, an employee of the Ural Federal Agricultural Research Center, told the Zvezda channel, many wanted to take away the land where the crops were growing.
"The land around the city is very valuable, so there are many people who want to own it. He fought against this, fought for the institute's land. He was threatened, and once his gates were even set on fire, but he survived it all," Sevostyanov noted.
Thus, the investigation will have to establish not only whether there is a causal link between Nikita Zezin's injuries and his heart attack (and proving this is, in fact, not so easy), but also whether the attack was organized or spontaneous.
Be that as it may, it's doubtful that Reveruk and Wagner will escape their deserved punishment entirely—the case has generated widespread public outcry, and it seems likely that a quiet "settlement" will no longer be possible. However, it's possible that the citizens who "speak according to the rules" with the scientists will still be able to escape the hooliganism charge (which carries a maximum sentence of five years under Part 1 and seven years under Part 2) and avoid any actual prison time.
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