Mar 31 2007
Russian mafia suspect killed leaving Kiev court
KIEV, March 27 (Reuters) - A Russian businessman wanted by Ukraine for alleged links to organised crime was shot dead on Tuesday by an unknown assailant as he left a court in Kiev, where he had been standing trial on blackmail charges.
Maxim Kurochkin, often nicknamed “Mad Max” on the Internet, was detained at Ukraine’s international airport in November 2006. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Kurochkin, who survived an attempt on his life in 2004, was gunned down in the yard of the court building in the capital after a session in the defendant’s metal cage, during which he was guarded by police and watched by a gallery of reporters.
The unidentified assailant also shot and wounded a policeman. Television footage showed the officer lying on a stretcher with his stomach covered in blood.
Local media have said Kurochkin was involved in several corporate scandals in the energy sector, which involved cases where armed men had tried to seize control over some companies.
Reuters 27 Mar 2007 17:14:54 GMT http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L27341333.htm
