Russian “Bonnie and Clyde” Go On Trial
A Moscow regional court opened the trial today of a couple dubbed the “Moscow region’s Bonnie and Clyde” for their alleged violent attacks against tourists, a court official reported.
Earlier, the Moscow regional prosecutor’s office said Alexander Belousov, 45, an unemployed resident of the Belgorod region in central Russia, and his 21-year-old girlfriend Alexandra Alexandrova were arrested on suspicion of attacking men and women “engaged in intimate acts in unpopulated areas.”
Prosecutors said Belousov faced two counts of rape. He and Alexandrova allegedly used a variety of weapons, including guns and knives, to assault their victims and rob them of jewellery, cars and money worth thousands of dollars, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.
“Belousov and Alexandrova formed an organized criminal unit with rigid discipline and a meticulous division of tasks,” a prosecutor’s office official said. The couple is suspected of conducting five assaults and two robberies in the Mytischi district of the Moscow region in 2004-2005.