The impression that the police want to investigate only the most primitive version of Pāvels Rebenoks' murder case has received a new confirmation. The friends of the killed lawyer have walked the path the murderers used to get away from the scene after the police restrictions were removed and found unnoticed material evidence - a bloody napkin. The police had to register it.
No further comments are given since this is an active investigation. This is the standard response of the State Police Press Service in cases where publicity is not desirable. However, there are so many people interested in this particular case that the facts, metaphorically speaking, can be found in every bush. And also literally! It is only for reasons that are not publicly explained that no one wants to accept them. It should be reminded that Pāvels Rebenoks was killed on the night of September 20. Brutally beaten with a wooden board. Judging by the action algorithm, the killers were professionals sent from Russia. At the time of the crime, the video surveillance system in Langstiņi was even switched off. After the job was done, they retreated in the direction of Lithuania. The board found in the yard, used as a weapon of murder, is a clear sign to the survivors. If you keep doing what you do, the same thing will happen to you.
Four versions of the possible causes of the murder have been made public. The first is that because Rebenok was involved in one of the sides that fought for Olainfarm's legacy, this has been payback from the warring widows, lovers, and leeching advisers. The second version reports that, in fact, Russian drug mafia had been invested in the company from the beginning, and now the bandits have sent the board as a sign that the ones fighting for the inheritance should not get their hopes up. Because that money does not belong to the heirs. The fact that Olainfarm has a long tradition of illicit drug production has been proven in court. And the death of the company's founder Valērijs Maligins is shrouded in many strange events. For example, the fact that the company's privatization case has now disappeared from the State Archives building. Not only has it disappeared, but it may have been irretrievably destroyed along with the KGB historical documents when the building flooded during the repairs. The employees of the State Archives do not know where the privatization case is currently located.
The third version is related to the global gas business and American efforts to oust the Russians in the Eastern European market. Locally in Latvia, this would mean the introduction of OIK2. Forced purchase of gas at an increased price. Rebenoks, along with former Minister of Economy Ralfs Nemiro, fought against the scheme. By the way, the head of Latvenergo has been forced to resign for the same reason. And now, after removing the obstacles, the project is rolling forward much more successfully: "Coalition priority - superproject Skulte LNG Terminal".
Neatkarīgā has described all these versions in detail in the publication “New theory about the murder of the well-known lawyer Pāvels Rebenoks”.
Paradoxically, the police have chosen the least plausible of the four versions as the most probable: that the criminals noticed how nice Rebenoks' cufflinks and watches were, so they decided to steal them. But in the course of the robbery, they went overboard and killed the victim. Rebenoks' partner wasn't killed, because apparently, that didn't seem so exciting. This version has been publicly declared more credible than the version of the murder being connected with the professional activities of a lawyer.
Since its first press conference immediately after the murder, another one has not been held, and no further public updates are given since this is an active investigation. Although there are updates, and Ralfs Nemiro told Neatkarīgā about one of them. After the police officers did their investigating at the scene and in the vicinity of Langstiņi, Rebenoks' friends followed in the footsteps of the criminals, gathering material evidence. What if the police have missed something?! For example, after the assassination of insolvency administrator Mārtiņš Bunkus, the former head of the State Criminal Police Valdis Pumpurs walked around the scene and found a man's shirt in the bushes near the burned car. The police had not noticed it due to unexplained short-sightedness. And, as it turns out, they had not noticed something significant in the area of Rebenoks' murder too, namely, a bloody napkin on the way the criminals retreated.
Blood is very important because the DNA can identify its owner. It might be possible that the murderer while beating his victim to death with a board also injured himself, and then, like a fool, he threw the napkin into the bushes. The napkin has been handed over to the police and registered as evidence. It is important that this bloody napkin was not found by police professionals trained in investigative activities, but by some people from various other professions - the deceased's friends.
Among the strangeness of the investigation is the fact that the sources of Neatkarīgā, who could talk about the contract murder, the specific people involved, and the links to the Russian criminal world, were not approached by the police either. Although, by agreeing to talk to Neatkarīgā, they were prepared for such consequences. However, the detective companies that applied to deliver, if not the heads of Rebenoks' murderers, then at least the names, remained empty-handed too. Neatkarīgā spoke to a representative of one such office, and he suspected that it was likely that no one wants to know the truth in this case. Otherwise, the ones who did it would have been put behind bars already. In particular, his company offered to deliver the perpetrators to the party KPV LV, with which Rebenoks was associated.
It should be reminded that soon after the murder, Rebenoks' friend Mārtiņš Krieķis on behalf of the deceased's friends announced a prize of 40,000 euros for handing over the ones who did it and 40,000 euros for those who ordered it. Ralfs Nemiro says that several international detective offices have applied. To him personally too. However, they could not convince him that they had any specific information. "They just wanted to be hired for the work with which they make money on a daily basis," says Ralfs Nemiro. The offer was rejected because there was no faith in them. And after all, the police exist to investigate such cases. But, on the other hand, the police's current activities and focus on searching for the deceased's cufflinks and watches do not give the impression of professional and convincing work in the active investigation. "To consider that the Russians came here to steal watches? That's just laughable," says Nemiro.
Neatkarīgā also approached the State Police with questions about the progress in the murder of lawyer Pāvels Rebenoks. Maybe there is some official news? Well, for example, how many witnesses have been interviewed during the investigation and whether the board from a photo published by the police has been found. But nothing. There is no news for this active investigation.