Ukrainian thief in law Pan, who was awarded by the president, will be extradited from Turkey to Russia

In 2000, Viktor Panyushin became a thief in law and was repeatedly convicted in Russia for serious crimes. He fled to Ukraine and then moved to Northern Cyprus. This year he was detained for using a fake passport.

Ankara will also hand over to Russia thief in law Viktor Panyushin, better known in criminal circles as “Vitya Pan,” Haberturk reports.

In June he was detained in Northern Cyprus, and since then Panyushin has been kept in prison. According to the decision of the Council of Ministers of the Republic, the man will be declared an illegal immigrant and brought to Turkey, and from there he will be extradited to Russia.

Panyushin is a native of Almetyevsk. In 2000, he received the status of thief in law, with influence in the criminal environment in the territories of the Kursk, Oryol and Belgorod regions. In Russia, Panyushin has convictions for nine serious crimes, including murder. In 2019, a criminal case was opened against him for occupying a higher position in the criminal hierarchy (Article 210.1 of the Criminal Code). According to the investigation, the organized criminal group he created was used to control criminal elements in the regions and “divide spheres of influence”: in the Kursk region the group specialized in violent crimes, and in the Belgorod region - in economic ones.

Panyushin fled to Ukraine and was put on the international wanted list. According to Haberturk, after the escape the man received a Ukrainian passport with a different last name and date of birth. At the beginning of 2023, he arrived in Northern Cyprus, where he was detained a few months later on charges of using false documents. Panyushin himself claimed that the Ukrainian authorities issued him a passport as part of the witness protection program and some of his personal data were changed so that the man would not be recognized.

The fact of granting refugee to the king of the underworld from the sanctions list of the National Security and Defense Council, who has 9 convictions and almost a quarter of a century spent behind bars, became known after the fact of his detention by SBU officers in the Lviv region at the end of May 2021 and subsequent release.

Two weeks after this, Panyushin, by decision of the “migration authorities,” was deprived of refugee status, as a result of which a legal dispute began on this issue in the administrative courts. At the end of December 2021, the OASC decided: despite the presence of a number of certificates, insignia and letters in support of “Viti Pan” from a number of public organizations, officials came to the conclusion that the information provided by Panyushin’s side was unreliable.

As the court and the second instance later established, the thief in law “got burned” on allegedly “false” thanks from the command of military unit No. 3033, the commander of the sniper company and military personnel. military unit A1126. In official letters, these units informed the security forces “about the lack of information about assistance in strengthening combat capability and logistics” from “Pan” and signs of falsification of their seals.

Taking into account such explanations of the military, the panel of judges came to the conclusion that the State Customs Service had reasonable grounds to believe that when deciding on the issue of granting Panyushin asylum in Ukraine, they were provided with false information, “which is an independent basis for canceling the decision to recognize a person as a refugee.”

At the same time, even the fact that “Pan” had an award from the President of Ukraine “For humanitarian participation in the anti-terrorist operation” and a certificate of series No. 00393 could not melt the hearts of the servants of Themis.

During the consideration of the case, the official origin of these awards was confirmed, but the court ruled: the corresponding victories do not refute the facts of the provision of other false information by Viktor Mikhailovich. So the deprivation of Viti Pan’s refugee status occurred legally.

Note that neither the thief in law himself nor his lawyers were physically present when the corresponding verdict was adopted. The last public mention of “Pan” occurs in the events of 2022.