A new criminal case has been opened against four alleged participants in the Revil Hacker Group, with charges of illegal access to computer information added to the previous charges of unlawful payment of payment funds.
The St. Petersburg Garrison Military Court has decided to separate the case of Andrei Bessonov, Mikhail Golovachuk, Roman of Muromsky, and Dmitry Korotaev into a separate proceeding and has sent it to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation to consolidate criminal cases.
The lawyers representing the accused believe that the new charge is a result of a lack of convincing evidence in the original case. They argue that the court is hesitant to make an acquittal, prompting the opening of a new investigation.
A total of eight defendants are involved in the Revil case, including Daniel Puzyrevsky, who is considered the group’s leader by investigators, as well as Ruslan Khansvyarov, Alexei Malozemov, and Artem Hare. Puzyrevsky and Khansvyarov are also facing charges related to the dissemination of malware.
Russian intelligence agencies have linked the accused individuals with the Revil hacker group, known for targeting large Western companies such as Quanta Computer, JBS, Colonial Pipeline, and Kaseya. However, both the defendants and their lawyers deny any involvement with the group.
The main accusation against the defendants is the theft of funds from the accounts of American citizens. During searches, computers and flash drives containing data from over 20 bank cards were seized from the accused. The defense argues that the investigation was unable to determine which financial institutions the details belonged to.
The trial has been significantly delayed, with military prosecutors preparing for debates since early June and court hearings being frequently postponed. The defense claims that the delays are unjustified and intentional. They have requested the court to interrogate the owners of the bank cards allegedly affected by the defendants.
The military prosecutor’s office has rejected this request, stating that there have been no claims of damage from the victims and that such a request is an attempt to further delay the trial. All the defendants have been in custody since the beginning of 2022, following arrests in multiple regions of Russia.
After the arrests, the FSB announced the dismantling of the hacker group and the confiscation of significant amounts of money, cryptocurrencies, and 20 luxury cars. The arrests came shortly after a phone call between the presidents of Russia and the United States in July 2021, during which Joe Biden urged Vladimir Putin to curb the activities of Russian hackers.
Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov has expressed concerns over