Alexander Bastrykin

Alexander Ivanovich Bastrykin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Бастры́кин, born August 27, 1953, in Pskov) is a Russian official, former First Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia, and former Chairman of The Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General's Office. Since January 15, 2011, he is the Head of The Investigative Committee of Russia.

Alexander Bastrykin
Head of The Investigative Committee of Russia
Assumed office
15 January 2011
Personal details
Born (1953-08-27) 27 August 1953
Pskov, Soviet Union (now Russia)
Alma materSaint Petersburg State University
Military service
Rank
General of justice of the Russian Federation

Studies

Alexander Bastrykin graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University in 1975, and was a university classmate of Vladimir Putin.[1][2][3]

Career
Bastrykin and Vladimir Putin in working meeting, 21 February 2013

In 2007, President Vladimir Putin established the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General's Office, de facto independent from the Prosecutor General's Office, and Bastrykin became its first chairman. The appointment was reportedly instigated by Igor Sechin, wishing to retain his influence after the dismissal of his close ally Vladimir Ustinov from the position of prosecutor general in 2006.[1][2][3]

2009 Nevsky Express bombing

On November 28, 2009, as head of the Investigative Committee at the scene of the 2009 Nevsky Express bombing, Bastrykin was injured by a second bomb and was hospitalised.[4][5] The second bomb was reportedly targeted at investigators, and was detonated by mobile phone.[5]

Threatening the life of a journalist

According to Dmitry Muratov, Bastrykin threatened the life of newspaper editor Sergei Sokolov, and jokingly assured him that he would investigate the murder himself.[6][7]

Scholar

Bastrykin holds a doctor of law degree, and has published more than 100 scholarly works in Russia. In 2007 Bastrykin was publicly accused of plagiarism, because parts of his then new book "Signs of the Hand. Dactyloscopy" (2004) had been rewritten from the famous book of German writer Jürgen Thorwald.[8] In 2013 these accusations were confirmed and supplemented by Dissernet community and its founder Sergei Parkhomenko: it was found that Bastrykin's book also contains an entire chapter from the book by Anthony Summers "The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover" (in Russian translation “The FBI Empire – Myths, Secrets, Intrigues”).[9][10]

Secret residence permit and real estate in the Czech Republic

On 26 July 2012 Russian blogger and anticorruption activist Alexey Navalny published documents indicating that Bastrykin had a residence permit and owned real estate in the Czech Republic. Mr. Navalny wrote that the real estate holding and residence permit in a country belonging to NATO, a military alliance opposed to Russia, should raise questions about Mr. Bastrykin's security clearance for work in law enforcement and access to state secrets.[11]

January 2017 blacklisting

On January 9, 2017, under the Magnitsky Act, the United States Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control updated its Specially Designated Nationals List and blacklisted Aleksandr I. Bastrykin, Andrei K. Lugovoi, Dmitri V. Kovtun, Stanislav Gordievsky, and Gennady Plaksin, which froze any of their assets held by American financial institutions or transactions with those institutions and banned their travelling to the United States.[12][13]

United Kingdom sanctions

On the 6th of July 2020, the government of the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on Bastrykin as part of a move to sanction a number of Russians and Saudis for having'blood on their hands'. [14]

Honours and awards

References
  1. "Бастрыкин, Александр". Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  2. "Однокашник президента возглавит прокурорское следствие". 22 June 2007. p. 6. Retrieved 26 March 2018 – via Kommersant.
  3. "Сечинский комитет при Генпрокуратуре". Политком.RU: информационный сайт политических комментариев. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  4. Abdullaev, Nabi (2009-12-02). "2nd Train Blast Injured Bastrykn". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 2009-12-02.
  5. "Russia's top detective hurt in train bombing". ABC News. AFP. 2009-12-02. Retrieved 2009-12-02.
  6. Председателю Следственного комитета при прокуратуре Российской Федерации генерал-полковнику юстиции А.И. Бастрыкину — о незаконченных делах Archived 2013-01-18 at the Wayback Machine, Dmitry Muratov, Novaya Gazeta, June 13, 2012
  7. Бастрыкин извинился за эмоциональный срыв, Lenta.ru, June 14, 2012
  8. Чисников В.Н. Рецензия на книгу А.И. Бастрыкин "Знаки руки. Дактилоскопия" – СПб.: Ореол, 2004 – 307 с. // Ученые записки Таврического национального университета им. В. И. Вернадского Серия «Юридические науки». Том 20 (59), № 2. 2007 г. С. 322-326. http://www.iuaj.net/node/746
  9. "Published results of the expertise of Alexander Bastrykin's monograph on Dissernet server". Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  10. Lipman, Masha (29 November 2013). "Heckling Russia's J. Edgar Hoover". Retrieved 26 March 2018 – via www.newyorker.com.
  11. Kramer, Andrew E. (26 July 2012). "In Russia, Aleksei Navalny Accuses Aleksandr Bastrykin of Secret European Holdings". Retrieved 26 March 2018 – via NYTimes.com.
  12. Landler, Mark (January 9, 2017). "U.S. to Blacklist 5 Russians, a Close Putin Aide Among Them". New York Times. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  13. "Magnitsky-related Designations; Counter Terrorism Designations 1/9/2017, Office of Foreign Assets Control: Specially Designated Nationals List Update". Office of Foreign Assets Control. United States Treasury. January 9, 2017. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  14. Piper, Elizabeth; Bruce, Andy (July 6, 2020). "Britain imposes sanctions on Russians, including top investigator, Saudis over rights". Reuters. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
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