Date

25/02/1997  

First

Vadim  

Surname

BIRYUKOV  

Sex/Age

M, 64  

Incident

homicide  

Motive

nJ  

Place

garage  

Job

chief editor  

Medium

print  

Federal District Plus

Moscow  

Street, Town, Region

Novolesnaya St, Moscow  

Freelance

no  

Local/National

national, Delovye lyudi  

Other Ties

 

Cause of Death

murder, beaten  

Legal Qualification

no information  

Impunity

investigation, halted  

Vadim Biryukov, deputy general director of Press-kontakt publishers, was brutally murdered on 24 February 1997 in his garage in Moscow. His body with extensive injuries to the head, tied hands and taped mouth, was found the next day. The police said he had been tortured before his death.

From 1977 to 1990 Biryukov worked at the Itar TASS news agency. Then he became one of the founders and chief editor of the Delovye lyudi (Business People) magazine. After 1995 he became the magazine’s general director, dealing with advertising, printing and the companion English edition. Before 1977 he was on the staff of the KGB, reaching the rank of colonel.

Two possibilities were that he resisted those who wanted to steal his new Nissan or that the crime was linked to some business interests. On 5 January 1998 the head of the oversight department for investigation of particularly important cases said that the investigation had been halted on 30 May 1997 since those who committed the crime had not been identified.