{{Short description|Russian lawyer}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Alexander Bastrykin | native_name = {{nobold|Александр Бастрыкин}} | native_name_lang = ru | image = Bastrykin 2026-03-07.png | caption = Bastrykin in 2026 | office = Chairman of the [[Investigative Committee of Russia]] | term_start = 15 January 2011 | term_end = | predecessor = ''Office established'' | successor = | president = [[Dmitry Medvedev]]<br />[[Vladimir Putin]] | office1 = First Deputy [[Prosecutor General of Russia]] | term_start1 = 7 September 2007 | term_end1 = 14 January 2011 | 1blankname1 = Prosecutor General | 1namedata1 = [[Yury Chaika]] | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1953|8|27|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Pskov]], Russian SFSR, Soviet Union | death_date = | death_place = | party = | alma_mater = [[Saint Petersburg State University|Leningrad State University]] | profession = | signature = }} '''Alexander Ivanovich Bastrykin''' ({{langx|ru|Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Бастры́кин}}, born 27 August 1953) is a Russian lawyer who has served as the Chairman of the [[Investigative Committee of Russia]] since 15 January 2011. He served as the First Deputy [[Prosecutor General of Russia]] and Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General's Office from 2007 to 2011.
He holds the special rank of General of Justice, the academic rank of [[Professor]], and a [[Doctor of Sciences|doctoral degree]] in law.
== Biography == Alexander Bastrykin graduated from the [[Saint Petersburg State University Faculty of Law|Law Faculty]] of [[Leningrad State University]] in 1975, and was a university classmate of [[Vladimir Putin]].<ref name="lenta">{{cite web|url=http://www.lenta.ru/lib/14181282/|title=Бастрыкин, Александр|publisher=|access-date=26 March 2018}}</ref><ref name="kommersant">{{cite journal|url=http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=777085|title=Однокашник президента возглавит прокурорское следствие|journal=Коммерсантъ|date=22 June 2007|pages=6|access-date=26 March 2018|via=Kommersant}}</ref><ref name="politcom">{{cite web|url=http://www.politcom.ru/4737.html|title=Сечинский комитет при Генпрокуратуре|website=Политком.RU: информационный сайт политических комментариев|access-date=26 March 2018}}</ref> [[File:Putin&Bastrykin.jpg|thumb|Bastrykin and [[Vladimir Putin]] in working meeting, 21 February 2013]] In 2007, President Vladimir Putin established the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General's Office, ''de facto'' independent from the Prosecutor General's Office, and Bastrykin became its first chairman. The appointment was reportedly instigated by [[Igor Sechin]], wishing to retain his influence after the dismissal of his close ally [[Vladimir Ustinov]] from the position of prosecutor general in 2006.<ref name="lenta" /><ref name="kommersant" /><ref name="politcom" />
On November 28, 2009, as head of the Investigative Committee at the scene of the [[2009 Nevsky Express bombing]], Bastrykin was injured by a second bomb and was hospitalised.<ref name=MoscowTimes>{{Cite news |last=Abdullaev |first=Nabi |title=2nd Train Blast Injured Bastrykn |url=http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/2nd-train-blast-injured-bastrykin/390746.html |newspaper=The Moscow Times |date=2009-12-02 |access-date=2009-12-02}}</ref><ref name=ABC>{{Cite news |title=Russia's top detective hurt in train bombing |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/02/2759399.htm?section=world |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121206021650/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/02/2759399.htm?section=world |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 6, 2012 |work=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]] |agency=[[Agence France-Presse|AFP]] |date=2009-12-02 |access-date=2009-12-02}}</ref> The second bomb was reportedly targeted at investigators, and was detonated by [[mobile phone]].<ref name=ABC />
Bastrykin is considered to be an intimate advisor of President [[Putin]].<ref>Manfred Quiring. Putins russische Welt. Berlin 2017. p. 31.(in german)</ref>
In July 2022, amid the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]], he announced that the Investigative Committee had opened 1300 criminal investigations against Ukrainian prisoners of war, saying that 92 of them had already been charged with crimes against humanity. The announcement drew criticism from human rights experts, with [[Amnesty International]] saying that the Russian government "shared no evidence to support these charges" and that "willfully depriving a prisoner of war of fair trial rights constitutes a war crime."<ref>{{cite web|date=25 July 2022|title=Russia: Charging 92 members of Ukraine's military with 'crimes against humanity' brazenly undermines fair trial rights|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/07/92-ukraine-military-charged-crimes-against-humanity/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=7 August 2022|work=Amnesty International}}</ref>
In August 2025 it was reported that following the death of [[Irina Podnosova]], Bastrykin turned down an offer from Putin to become the chairman of the [[Supreme Court of Russia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://understandingwar.org/research/russia-ukraine/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-august-30-2025/|title=Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 30, 2025|date=2025-08-30|publisher=Institute of War|accessdate=2025-11-19}}</ref>
== Controversies == === Plagiarism === Bastrykin holds a [[Doctor of Sciences|doctor of law]] degree, and has published more than 100 scholarly works in Russia.
In 2007 Bastrykin was publicly accused of [[plagiarism]], because parts of his then new book "Signs of the Hand. Dactyloscopy" (2004) had been rewritten from the famous book of German writer [[Jürgen Thorwald]].<ref>Чисников В.Н. Рецензия на книгу А.И. Бастрыкин "Знаки руки. Дактилоскопия" – СПб.: Ореол, 2004 – 307 с. // Ученые записки Таврического национального университета им. В. И. Вернадского Серия «Юридические науки». Том 20 (59), № 2. 2007 г. С. 322-326. http://www.iuaj.net/node/746</ref>
In 2013 these accusations were confirmed and supplemented by [[Dissernet]] community and its founder [[Sergey Parkhomenko]]: it was found that Bastrykin's book also contains an entire chapter from the book by [[Anthony Summers]] "The Secret Life of [[J. Edgar Hoover]]" (in Russian translation "The FBI Empire – Myths, Secrets, Intrigues").<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wiki.dissernet.org/wsave/BastrykinZnaki.html|title=Published results of the expertise of Alexander Bastrykin's monograph on Dissernet server|publisher=|access-date=26 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/heckling-russias-j-edgar-hoover|title=Heckling Russia's J. Edgar Hoover|first=Masha|last=Lipman|magazine=The New Yorker |date=29 November 2013|publisher=|access-date=26 March 2018|via=www.newyorker.com}}</ref>
=== Sanctions and blacklistings === [[File:Vladimir Putin at award ceremonies (2022-12-08) 02.jpg|thumb|Bastrykin, [[Valery Gerasimov]], [[Sergei Shoigu]], [[Konstantin Chuychenko]] and other prominent figures of the [[Russia under Vladimir Putin|Putin regime]] at award ceremonies on 8 December 2022]] On January 9, 2017, under the [[Magnitsky Act]], the [[United States Department of the Treasury|United States Treasury]]'s [[Office of Foreign Assets Control]] updated its [[Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List|Specially Designated Nationals List]] and blacklisted Aleksandr I. Bastrykin, [[Andrey Lugovoy|Andrei K. Lugovoi]], [[Dmitry Kovtun|Dmitri V. Kovtun]], Stanislav Gordievsky, and Gennady Plaksin, which [[Asset freezing|froze]] any of their assets held by American financial institutions or transactions with those institutions and banned their travelling to the United States.<ref>{{cite news | last = Landler | first = Mark | author-link = Mark Landler | title = U.S. to Blacklist 5 Russians, a Close Putin Aide Among Them | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/09/us/politics/russian-sanctions-obama-administration.html?_r=0 | work = New York Times | date = January 9, 2017 | access-date = January 9, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title = Magnitsky-related Designations; Counter Terrorism Designations 1/9/2017, Office of Foreign Assets Control: Specially Designated Nationals List Update | url = https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/OFAC-Enforcement/Pages/20170109.aspx | work = Office of Foreign Assets Control | publisher = United States Treasury | date = January 9, 2017 | access-date = January 9, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2017-01-10 |title=Alleged Litvinenko Assassins Added to U.S. Sanctions List |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2017/01/10/alleged-litvinenko-assassins-added-to-us-sanctions-list-a56766 |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=The Moscow Times |language=en}}</ref>
On 6 July 2020, the government of the [[United Kingdom]] imposed [[Economic sanctions|sanctions]] on Bastrykin as part of a move to sanction a number of Russians and Saudis for having 'blood on their hands'.<ref>{{cite news | last1= Piper | first1= Elizabeth | last2 = Bruce | first2 = Andy | title = Britain imposes sanctions on Russians, including top investigator, Saudis over rights | work = Reuters | date = July 6, 2020 | url = https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-sanctions/britain-imposes-sanctions-on-russians-including-top-investigator-saudis-over-rights-idUKKBN2470TF | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200706201702/https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-sanctions/britain-imposes-sanctions-on-russians-including-top-investigator-saudis-over-rights-idUKKBN2470TF | url-status = dead | archive-date = July 6, 2020 | access-date = July 6, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Harding |first=Luke |last2=Chulov |first2=Martin |date=2020-07-06 |title='Magnitsky sanctions': who are those being targeted by UK? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/law/2020/jul/06/magnitsky-sanctions-who-are-those-being-targeted-by-uk |access-date=2024-12-04 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
=== Secret residence permit and real estate in the Czech Republic === On 26 July 2012 Russian blogger and anticorruption activist [[Alexei Navalny]] published documents indicating that Bastrykin had a residence permit and owned real estate in the Czech Republic. Mr. Navalny wrote that the real estate holding and residence permit in a country belonging to [[NATO]], a military alliance opposed to [[Russia]], should raise questions about Mr. Bastrykin's security clearance for work in law enforcement and access to [[Classified information in Russia|state secrets]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/27/world/europe/in-russia-aleksei-navalny-accuses-chief-investigator-of-secret-european-holdings.html|title=In Russia, Aleksei Navalny Accuses Aleksandr Bastrykin of Secret European Holdings|first=Andrew E.|last=Kramer|newspaper=The New York Times|date=26 July 2012|publisher=|access-date=26 March 2018}}</ref>
===Threatening journalists=== According to [[Dmitry Muratov]], Bastrykin threatened the life of newspaper editor Sergei Sokolov, and jokingly assured him that he would investigate the murder himself.<ref>[http://www.novayagazeta.ru/columns/53061.html?print=1 Председателю Следственного комитета при прокуратуре Российской Федерации генерал-полковнику юстиции А.И. Бастрыкину — о незаконченных делах] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130118124158/http://www.novayagazeta.ru/columns/53061.html?print=1 |date=2013-01-18 }}, [[Dmitry Muratov]], [[Novaya Gazeta]], June 13, 2012</ref><ref>[http://lenta.ru/news/2012/06/14/bastr/ Бастрыкин извинился за эмоциональный срыв], [[Lenta.ru]], June 14, 2012</ref>
===2022 war censorship laws=== In March 2022, Russian journalist [[Alexander Nevzorov]] wrote to Bastrykin that Russia's [[Russian 2022 war censorship laws|2022 war censorship laws]], which introduced [[Russian 2022 war censorship laws|prison sentences of up to 15 years]] for those who publish "knowingly false information" about the Russian military and its operations, violate the [[Censorship in the Russian Federation|freedom of speech]] provisions of the Constitution of Russia.<ref>{{cite news |title=Top Russian Journalist Defiant in Face of Fake News Investigation |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/top-russian-journalist-defiant-in-face-of-fake-news-investigation-/6497836.html |work=VOA News |date=23 March 2022}}</ref>
== Political views and legislative initiatives == [[File:Vladimir Putin in Kemerovo (2018-03-27) 07.jpg|thumb|Bastrykin and Putin in working meeting, 27 March 2018]] In 2015, Bastrykin proposed to amend article 15 of the [[Constitution of Russia]] by establishing the priority of national laws over universally recognized principles and norms of international law and international agreements ratified by [[Russia]]n Federation (it is possible only through the adoption of the new Constitution because article 15 appears in chapter 1, established the fundamental principles of the constitutional order).<ref>{{cite news|last=Kozlova|first=Natalya|date=27 April 2015|title=Александр Бастрыкин предлагает установить приоритет национального права над международным|language=ru|work=[[Rossiyskaya Gazeta]]|url=https://rg.ru/2015/04/28/bastrykin.html}}</ref>
In 2016, Bastrykin expressed the need to establish official national [[ideology]] and [[Censorship|censor]] the [[Internet]], on the grounds that there is [[information warfare]] against [[Russia]] launched by [[United States|USA]] and its allies.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Bastrykin|first=Alexander|date=18 April 2016|title=Пора поставить действенный заслон информационной войне|language=ru|magazine=[[Kommersant]]|url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2961578}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Sharogradskiy|first1=Andrey|last2=Gostev|first2=Alexander|date=18 April 2016|title=Черно-белый мир Александра Бастрыкина|language=ru|magazine=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|Radio Liberty]]|url=https://www.svoboda.org/a/27682162.html}}</ref> As such proposals clash with the provisions of chapters 1 and 2 of the [[Constitution of Russia]], established the fundamental principles of the constitutional order and the fundamental rights of citizens, the complaint was lodged against Bastrykin with the [[Prosecutor-General of Russia|General Prosecutor's Office of Russian Federation]]<ref>{{cite news|last=Shcherbina|first=Yevgeniya|date=29 April 2016|title=Житель Новосибирска пожаловался в Генпрокуратуру на статью Бастрыкина в "Коммерсант.Власть"|language=ru|work=Sib.fm|url=https://sib.fm/news/2016/04/29/zhitel-novosibirska-pozhalovalsja-v-genprokuraturu-na-bastrykina}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.-->|date=29 April 2016|title=Житель Новосибирска пожаловался в Генпрокуратуру на статью Бастрыкина о цензурировании интернета|language=ru|work=[[NEWSru]]|url=https://www.newsru.com/russia/29Apr2016/bastrykin.html}}</ref> but the [[Prosecutor's Office of Russian|General Prosecutor's Office]] refused to initiate an investigation.<ref>{{cite news|last=Galaguz|first=Ilya|date=15 June 2016|title=Генпрокуратура отказалась проверить статью Бастрыкина по жалобе жителя Новосибирска|language=ru|work=Sib.fm|url=https://sib.fm/news/2016/06/15/genprokuratura-otkazalas-proverit-statju-bastrykina}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.-->|date=15 June 2016|title=Генпрокуратура отказалась проверять статью Бастрыкина по жалобе новосибирца|language=ru|work=Rosbalt.ru|url=https://www.rosbalt.ru/russia/2016/06/15/1523191.html}}</ref>
==Honors and awards== *[[Order "For Merit to the Fatherland"|Order for Merit to the Fatherland, 2nd and 4th class]] *[[Order of Alexander Nevsky]] *[[Order of Honour (Russia)|Order of Honor]] *[[Medal "In Commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of Saint Petersburg"]] *[[Ministerial awards of the Russian Federation#Ministry of Justice|Medal of Anatoly Koni]] *Medal in Commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the Ministry of Justice *Medals "For Diligence" 1st and 2nd classes (Ministry of Justice) *[[Russian Federation Presidential Certificate of Honor]] (2009) *Honorary Title of [[Honoured Lawyer of Russia|Honored Jurist of the Russian Federation]] *Order of Friendship ([[Armenia]], 2016) *Order of Honor ([[Ingushetia]], 2013) *Order of Honor ([[South Ossetia]], 2009)
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == {{Commonscatinline}} * [https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/08/the-rise-and-probable-fall-of-putins-enforcer/278577/ Michael Weiss. ''The Rise and Probable Fall of Putin's Enforcer'' // The Atlantic, Aug 12 2013]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bastrykin, Alexander}} [[Category:1953 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:People from Pskov]] [[Category:Russian jurists]] [[Category:Russian prosecutors]] [[Category:Scholars of criminal law]] [[Category:Saint Petersburg State University alumni]] [[Category:20th-century Russian lawyers]] [[Category:21st-century Russian lawyers]] [[Category:20th-century Russian politicians]] [[Category:21st-century Russian politicians]] [[Category:People sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act]] [[Category:Russian nationalists]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of Alexander Nevsky (Russian Federation)]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of Honour (Russia)]] [[Category:Honoured Lawyers of the Russian Federation]]