“Thief-in-law” Rezo Malania buried in Stavropol cemetery

Funerals of Rezo Malania known as Gaga, who passed in away on May 4 in the penal colony No.6 of the city of Kopeysk, took place today on the central cemetery of Stavropol.

Coffin with the body was delivered into Stavropol from the Chelyabinsk region at the beginning of the week. According to Megrelian traditions, the funeral did not take place immediately so that all relatives could come and say the last word to the deceased.

As the Prime Crime News Agency previously reported, Rezo Malania was crowned in Moscow in 1996 by old school “thieves-in-law” headed by now deceased Shalva Dekanosidze, known as “Chushka”. After Dekanosidze’s death "grey eminence" of the criminal world Guram Machavariani, known as Macho or Guram the Old, took supervising over Gaga. In 1999 under supervising of Machavariani Malania settled in the Stavropol region. Following the principles of his teacher, thus not to have own business and not to appear in the role of the arbitrator in the disputes between traders, Gaga mostly made his living by committing crimes. Successful tandem of these two “thieves-in-law” existed till August 2005 when Malania was arrested and accused of a series of armed robberies as a participant of a criminal group. Gaga never again had a chance to see again his teacher Guram who died in a month and a half after his pupil was sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment in April 2007.

As it follows from Malania’s file, one month after arrival in the penal colony No.6 of the city of Kopeysk, Gaga wrote a waiver from thief traditions. Uneven handwriting and formal style of pleading letters can justify that these letters were written upon dictation and in the state of emotion instability.

In spite of the presence of such important evidence, subsequently Rezo Malania did not collaborate with the administration of the colony and did not lose authority among the prisoners. Within the period of his imprisonment, Gaga systematically disrupted the established regime and underwent disciplinary penalties. In accordance with thief traditions being in the “red zone”, he could be placed only in penal insulator where he actually spent most part of his imprisonment period up to the last day.

Though criminal authorities accept that death of Gaga was caused by weak health, relatives of Malania exclude any possibility of an incident. Some time before Gaga’s death another mafia leader Georgiy Pipia died of exhaustion though stated of liver cirrhosis, in whose court procedures Malania was sentenced to be an accomplice.

As they say during the whole winter Gaga was kept in a cold cell. He did not put on the colony robe where it was written that he belongs to the colony division of discipline and order, thus staying only in underwear. According to the investigative information, Gaga died during hunger strike refusing to touch prison plates. After Gaga’s death, weight of his body was not more than 60 kg which normally constituted about 120 kg (at his height of 195 cm). According to the relatives, the chief of penal colony No.6 of city of Kopeysk, Chelyabinsk region, Rustam Karimov swore to Eldar, Gaga’s brother who came to take the body, that Gaga’ death was due to the fault of the Federal Service on Punishment Fulfillment in the Chelyabinsk region.

Such methods of work with prisoners of special contingent, owing to which the Head of Federal Service on Punishment Fulfillment became notorious throughout the country after May 2008, caused quite a controversy reaction even from head officers of legal authorities. Using of repression methods of GULAG is now understood by some officers as lack of qualifications.

Only within last two years 9 “thieves-in-law” died in prisons due to different reasons. Thus the mafia world being worried about its possibility to survive now has made a decision not to accept any waivers which were written upon some threats to health and life. The proof of such decision is “mafia note” where Gaga was called with due respect as “thief-in-law”. Notwithstanding all attempts, Gaga died as “thief-in-law” thus the problem of adequacy of the measures which were applied to him is remained unsolved.