Contract killer in Bunkus murder case gets life sentence, organizers sentenced to 15 years in prison

RIGA - The Riga City Court today sentenced Russian citizen Viktor Krivoshey to life behind bars for killing insolvency lawyer Martins Bunkus, while businessmen Aleksandrs Babenko and Mihails Ulmans, the organizers of the crime, were each handed down a prison sentence of 15 years.

All three defendants were also sentenced to three years under probation supervision, and Babenko and Ulmans will have their property confiscated.

The court of first instance also ordered the defendants to pay EUR 171,462 compensation for moral damages to the victims. Of that amount, the father of the deceased, Ojars Bunkus, and the brothers, Kaspars and Kristaps Bunkus, have been awarded EUR 43,000 each, while the mother of the deceased, Dace Bunkus, has been awarded EUR 42,462.

The court ruling has not yet entered into force and can be appealed to the Riga Regional Court.

Earlier, prosecutor Rimants Kuzma had asked the court to sentence Krivoshey to life imprisonment and three years under probation supervision.

The prosecutor had asked to sentence the two businessmen charged with ordering the murder - Babenko, born in 1961, and Ulmans, born in 1953 - to 20 years in prison each, three years' under probation supervision and confiscation of their property. The prosecutor asked the judge to order the confiscation of the businessmen's real estate, motor vehicles and company shares.

According to information available on Firmas.lv, Babenko's property seized in 2022 in accordance with the State Police's order includes capital shares in several companies, such as a 32.58 percent stake in Gruodis with a nominal value of EUR 2,428 348, to ensure the recovery of procedural costs, compensation for the damage caused to the victim and also possible confiscation of property as an additional punishment. This company owns a 62 percent stake in the retail company Mego.

Ulmans' shares in several companies, such as Monald with a nominal value of EUR 1,467,186 have also been seized in accordance with the police order.

Ulmans and Babenko were charged with ordering Bunkus' murder. Ulmans is also accused of aiding the murder.

The alleged hitman who fired the shots, Russian citizen Krivoshey, born in 1974, was also charged and tried for killing Bunkus. He was also charged with unauthorized possession and transportation of a firearm and ammunition and disclosing information obtained in pre-trial criminal proceedings without the permission of the investigator or prosecutor.

The mastermind of the murder, Genadijs Valagins, was not charged as he died a violent death. Valagins was once convicted in the case of an influential criminal gang led by Ivans Haritonovs who was shot dead in March 2022 in Riga.

One person, Arkadijs Judins, was acquitted of involvement in Bunkus' murder.

The organizer of Bunkus' murder was offered EUR 100,000 and the hitman was promised EUR 200,000. However, over EUR 100,000 was not paid to the killer.

Bunkus was shot on the morning of May 30, 2018 as he was driving his car past the Riga Forest Cemetery. Shortly after the murder, a car with fake license plates was found burnt near the crime scene.