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The Petrograd District Court of St. Petersburg handed down a verdict in the murder of Igor Talkov in 1991. The accused, producer of the singer Valery Shlyafman, was sentenced to 13 years in prison. But the verdict was in absentia, because the person involved in the case disappeared abroad back in 1992. According to investigators, there was a conflict between Shlyafman and Igor Malakhov, the bodyguard of singer Aziza, who took part in the same concert. During the scuffle, the producer grabbed a pistol from Malakhov's hands, fired and accidentally hit Talkov. Shlyafman himself declared his innocence to Izvestia. The details of the case are in our material.

Who killed Igor Talkov

On April 23, the verdict in the murder of rock singer Igor Talkov was announced in St. Petersburg. The Petrograd District Court sentenced Valery Shlyafman, the concert director of the artist, to 13 years in prison in absentia. The prosecution demanded that Shlyafman be sentenced to 14 years.

The investigation and the court found that on October 6, 1991, a conflict arose between Talkov's concert director Valery Shlyafman and singer Aziza's security guard Igor Malakhov over the order of the artists' performances at the concert. The verbal altercation escalated into a scuffle in the hallway. Malakhov had a revolver, but three people attacked him, including Igor Talkov. At some point, Shlyafman grabbed the revolver from Malakhov's hands and fired. The bullet hit Igor Talkov, he died on the spot.

In 1992, Shlyafman secretly traveled to Ukraine, where he received a foreign passport and fled to Israel. He lives there now. At the same time, Shlyafman was charged in absentia with negligent homicide.

There were many versions of the circumstances surrounding the murder of Igor Talkov. One of them was that the singer was killed for political reasons — because of the anti-Soviet and monarchist background of his songs. His death was also linked to singer Aziza: kickboxer Igor Malakhov, who was close to criminal circles, was called the singer's boyfriend.

As Anton Breido, head of the 2nd investigative Department of the 1st Directorate for the investigation of particularly important cases of the General Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for St. Petersburg, told Izvestia, these "popular" versions have not been confirmed. Although, according to him, initially the investigators suspected Igor Malakhov of the murder. However, later, in 1991, investigator Valery Zubarev concluded that Malakhov could not have shot at the singer. He proved that the shooter was Valery Shlyafman, who was aiming at Malakhov and unintentionally hit Talkov.

Irina Krasilnikova, a confidant of the singer's widow Tatiana Talkova, told Izvestia that the case had not been brought to court for several years because Shlyafman had run away, and the legislation did not provide for the case to be considered without an accused. Therefore, it was suspended.

A full-fledged investigation resumed in 2021, and based on the evidence gathered, investigators came to a final conclusion about Shlyafman's guilt. He was charged with two counts of murder and attempted murder committed in a generally dangerous manner.

As part of the investigation, more than 150 witnesses were questioned, a number of genetic studies were conducted, and experts who conducted examinations in 1991-1992 were questioned.

One of the pieces of evidence in the criminal case was Shlyafman's shirt, which he was wearing at the time of the crime. It was seized during a search of the producer's roommate, after the suspect left Russia. Despite the fact that Shlyafman denied that he had fired, experts found powder traces and blood of Igor Talkov on the right sleeve of his shirt.

What did the witnesses and the accused say?

Valery Shlyafman told Izvestia that he considers his sentence unfair. He described the case materials as "complete lies."

"This is a falsification of facts, a refusal to hear the testimony of witnesses who confirm that I am innocent," he said. — [Igor] Malakhov has already had a suspended sentence since 1991 until 1993 (for illegal possession of weapons. — Ed.). On what basis did the investigators just let him go, knowing that he had used a weapon and brought a weapon? When Malakhov came out of the dressing room, he got a kick in the ass, and a serious kick from Igor. And a lot of people were talking about it, who were in the dressing room. Now decide for yourself whether I'm right or wrong.

Shlyafman stated that he intends to defend his point of view. When asked about his escape from the country in 1992, he replied that it was just a departure, he had no plans to hide.

"I didn't run away. I informed Tanya (Igor Talkov's widow. — Ed.) that I'm going to leave for Israel in the next few days," he said. "She knew about it. She told the investigator about it several times.

Singer Aziza, during her testimony in court, stated that Shlyafman kicked Igor Malakhov on the day of the singer's murder.

— Malakhov left with Shlyafman, and then there was a noise, shots were fired. I went out and saw a fight in the hallway, there was a cloud of smoke like fog, there were a lot of people, there was Malakhov, he was lying face down on the floor," the singer said.

Aziza pointed out that she tried to stop the fight and threw a jacket over one of its participants, while Shlyafman was kicking Malakhov at that moment. The singer did not see Talkov at that moment. Protecting her bodyguard, she lay directly on his back, covering him. Aziza did not see any weapons in the hands of Shlyafman, the singer claims. And after the scuffle, Shlyafman ran towards the dressing room — already with a gun — and hid. When the door in the dressing room opened again, the producer came out unarmed. Aziza asked him where the gun was, but got no answer.

The girls who were with Shlyafman in the dressing room told the singer that the producer hid the weapon in the toilet. The singer found the weapon, took it with two fingers and took it to Malakhov — she knew that the gun belonged to him. Aziza, according to her, found out about Igor Talkov's death when she heard screams in the hallway, and later the police officers who arrived at the scene told her about it.

Another witness in the case, Elvira Shigapova— said that Shlyafman himself invented a version about the elimination of Igor Talkov and "threw" it to the people. That's how he tried to avoid punishment, she said. After the death of the rock musician, Shlyafman, according to her, began to tell that Talkov had been eliminated by the KGB.

— In my opinion, it was such a trick. To avoid punishment, he decided to whitewash himself, this is my personal opinion. Therefore, a version was invented that Talkov was eliminated by the authorities, eliminated by the security forces," the woman said.

Irina Krasilnikova stressed that Igor Talkov's family had been trying for a long time to transfer Aziza from witnesses to accomplices.

"There is reason to believe that it was not Malakhov who threw the gun, but she, and she also took it out," Krasilnikova said. — The only thing that was taken into account, thanks to the investigation, is the reclassification of the case from murder for hooligan motives [to murder in a generally dangerous manner].

Will Valery Shlyafman be extradited to Russia

Igor Talkov's death was caused by the concert organizers' guards and, to some extent, even the musician himself, producer Alexander Tolmatsky, who witnessed the events, told Izvestia. He called the charges against Shlyafman illegal.

"I think this is a fully qualified person," he said.

According to him, at the time of Talkov's murder, he saw that Igor Malakhov had fired the shot. However, he did not do it himself, but allegedly "with the hands of the guards who tried to snatch the gun from him."

— In general, Talkov himself is to blame, he started shooting. The investigator who first handled the case screwed up there, turned everything upside down. I believe that all the results of the examination were forged," believes Alexander Tolmatsky.

Elena Kandaurova, a dancer from Igor Talkov's group, who was the main witness in the case, said that she saw Shlyafman holding a gun in his hands, but did not shoot.

"I do not know how to react to everything that is happening now," she said. — I think this is outrageous and wrong. I am very sorry that I could not influence this with my testimony.

Criminal defense lawyer Tatiana Pashkevich recalled that the statute of limitations does not apply to this case, since there was a specific defendant who had been wanted all this time.

— I think that Israel will not extradite its citizen, — the expert believes. — Therefore, the life of the Shlyafman will not change in any way. But if he crosses the Russian border, he will be immediately detained.

According to her, it is extremely rare for such long-standing criminal cases to end with a verdict.

— But in this case, the investigation probably had irrefutable evidence that Igor Malakhov could not have fired the shot. For example, blood and gunpowder residue on Shlyafman's shirt," said Tatiana Pashkevich. — The court handed down an average sentence in terms of severity, taking into account the non—admission of guilt.

If Shlyafman ever decides to return to Russia or is extradited, he will be immediately detained and sent to serve the sentence imposed by the court, said Ekaterina Kutuzova, a lawyer at the Adyghe Republican Bar Association. She doubted that Shlyafman would be able to challenge his sentence due to the large volume of evidence reviewed.

Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»

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