Russian MMA fighter who formed violent neo-nazi gang faces trial 

Nikita Fedonenko allegedly formed a neo-nazi gang in Omsk that was behind the murder an Armenian man in 2016.

On May 15, 2018, the trial of a mixed martial arts fighter who formed a neo-nazi gang that allegedly murdered an Armenian man commenced in at the Omsk Regional Court in Russia.

Nikita Fedonenko, a 24-year-old MMA fighter who represented the Omsk regional branch of the Russian MMA Union, was arrested and charged in 2016 with “causing grievous bodily harm that negligently caused the death of a person”. According to news agency “SuperOmsk,” Fedonenko attacked Vahe Zalibiakan, an Armenian immigrant ten years his senior, and sent him to the hospital, where he died of his wounds.

The report added that when police searched the fighter’s apartment, they encountered “paraphernalia similar to the ones used by skinheads.”

Since his detention, investigators have uncovered the details behind Fedonenko’s attack, as well as a list of other crimes that the fighter is allegedly guilty of, including the formation of a neo-nazi gang in his native Omsk. The gang allegedly committed several robberies targeting minority groups in Russia, primary those from Central Asia and the Caucasus. It was one of those attacks that led to Zalibiakan’s death.

However, once it was deemed unsafe for the gang to commit public attacks on minority groups, they brought in a 17-year-old woman named Regina Mikulichev to attract potential victims. According to reports, Mikulichev contacted men on social media and lured them to secluded places to be attacked by her fellow gang members. It remains unclear how many victims they succeeded in luring into violent beatings before being arrested in 2016.

Fedonenko, along with fellow gang members Alexander Bezborodov and Alexander Lanbin, appeared in court on may 15. However, Mikulichev, one of the defendants in the trail due to her alleged role in luring unsuspecting men, did not appear in court for the start of the trial. Her lawyer, who was present, had no information regarding her whereabouts and asked for the case to be dismissed until she was found. The judge temporarily suspended the case and placed Mikulichev on the wanted list.

Despite the delay in the trial, this remains one of the high profile cases in Omsk, as Fedonenko is notable fighter who committed a murder based on the victim’s nationality. In 2013, Fedonenko took second place in the “Cup of the Golden Helmet”, a tournament in honor of USSR coach Vladimir Zborowski where the prize is the title of Master of Sports in Pankration. The fighter represented the Omsk Academy of the Ministry of Interior, where he studied. According to some reports, Fedonenko abandoned his studies in favor of work in the patrol duty. However, he retired six months prior to Zalibiakan’s murder.