MOSCOW, September 2 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) – The Moscow Regional Court will review a criminal case against Alexander Matusov, alleged leader or the Shchyolkovo organized crime gang, with participation of a jury trial, RAPSI learned from the court’s press-service on Friday.

Jury selection is set for September 8.

Matusov, aka Basmach, was arrested in Thailand at the request of Interpol’s National Central Bureau for Russia in June of 2014. Matusov was arrested in Thailand’s eastern seaside town of Sattahip in Chon Buri Province.

The Shchyolkovo gang was active from 1995 to 2009 and was notorious for contract killings, extortion and kidnappings in the Moscow and St. Petersburg areas. The gang members are suspected of having killed at least 60 people. In 2009, police found the bodies of 15 of the gang’s victims in forests near Moscow.

Matusov is charged with series of murders and attempted murders of businessmen. According to investigators, in November of 1996 gangsters, including Basmach, attacked four businessmen, killing three of them. One of the victims survived, but was severely wounded.

Matusov was put on the wanted list in 2009, when police brought three murder charges against members of his crime group.