The Penza region district attorney’s office reports that two Russians are set to stand trial on kidnapping charges. The case stems from a December 2023 incident when a 60-year-old resident of the Moscow region learned that his relative had been involved in an accident near Penza.
Investigators say the 29-year-old local resident’s car was damaged and he demanded compensation. The Moscow-area resident wanted to help his relative and decided to kidnap the man, asking a 37-year-old acquaintance from the Penza region to assist and warning a taxi driver who would tail the victim, according to investigators from the Penza region district attorney’s office.
On the evening of December 26, the group left the city of Kamenki in a taxi, tailing the victim’s vehicle, and they overtook a car in the Mokshansky district, blocked the road, and forced the car to stop. One of the accomplices pulled the man from his car into a taxi and struck him when he attempted to resist, according to investigators from the Penza region district attorney’s office.
Police eventually stopped the taxi carrying the victim and the two suspects at the 529th kilometer of the M-5 highway. The defendants have stated that the victim accompanied them voluntarily but was detained; the case will go to court soon, according to investigators from the Penza region district attorney’s office.