MOSCOW, July 4 (RAPSI) – Investigators have charged Georgian citizen Aslan Gagiyev, who had earlier been extradited from Austria, with organizing a gang and numerous murders, the Investigative Committee’s press-service has stated.

The defendant is also charged with banditry and unlawful weapon trafficking.

Gagiyev, an alleged leader of the notorious organized-crime syndicate, was extradited from Austria to Russia on June 20. He denied wrongdoing and refused to testify.

Russian investigators claim that Gagiyev’s gang has been operating since 2004 and includes over 50 members. Members of the gang committed more than 60 counts of murder in Moscow, Moscow Region and North Ossetia including murders of officials, law enforcement officers and businessmen.

As of February 2018, 22 members of the gang were sentenced to lengthy prison terms while two were sentenced for life and one was sentenced to compulsory treatment. 13 persons more remain in detention.