Maksym Ivankin, convicted in the “Network” case, was found guilty of murder

Jurors in the Ryazan regional court unanimously found Maksym Ivankin, convicted in the “Network” case, guilty of the murder of two people – Ekaterina Levchenko and Artem Dorofeev. This is reported by “Mediazona” and “NeMoskva” with reference to sources in the courtroom.

According to the verdict of the jury, Ivankin does not deserve leniency. He pleaded not guilty and previously stated that he had given his confession under torture.

According to the investigation, in April 2017, Ivankin and his friend Alexei Poltavets killed 19-year-old Ekaterina Levchenko and 21-year-old Artem Dorofeev after the four of them fled from Penza, fearing prosecution for drug distribution. The prosecution considers the motive of the crime to be the fear that Dorofeev and Levchenko will tell about the illegal activities of their acquaintances.

• In February 2020, “Meduza” published material in which it was mentioned about the possible involvement in the disappearance and murder of Levchenko and Dorofeev of several convicted in the so-called “Network” case – namely Maksym Ivankin, Mikhail Kulkov and Dmitry Pchelintsev. This was told by their friend Aleksey Poltavets, who, by his own admission, personally killed Dorofeev.
• Back in 2017, Dorofeev’s body was found in a forest near Ryazan with signs of violent death. Levchenko’s remains were found in March 2020 – after her parents turned to the prosecutor’s office with a request to initiate a “preliminary investigation” of their daughter’s death and check the information of “Meduza”. As a result, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on the murder of Levchenko. Soon the SC combined the cases of the murder of Levchenko and Dorofeev.