A Russian businessman who said he carried fake identity papers in Spain to avoid being hunted down and killed has been cleared by a Spanish court — after his home was riddled with bullets.
The man was arrested last year in Torrevieja after police found him in possession of a forged Czech ID card and driving licence. Prosecutors claimed he had deliberately used the documents to deceive officers and demanded an eight-month jail sentence.
But judges ruled there was no proof he actually presented the false documents himself, and threw the case out.
The businessman told the court he fled Russia in 2017 after a violent dispute with a criminal gang linked to drug trafficking — and even claimed corrupt police were involved. He said he adopted a false identity purely to stay alive.
According to his testimony, five masked gunmen shot him with a long weapon while he was running a construction business in Russia. He survived but still has bullets lodged in his legs.
After spending a month in hospital, he escaped to Spain with his family, where he lived quietly — until his arrest last February during a routine Civil Guard check.
Officers said the forged documents were found in a bag inside his car. However, the judge noted it was not proven that the businessman knowingly used them to identify himself, as prosecutors alleged.
“The falsehood was purely formal and had no legal impact,” the ruling stated.
The case took on a chilling new twist just ten months later.
In December, his home in Orihuela Costa came under machine-gun fire while he and his family were inside. More than 20 shell casings from an assault rifle were recovered at the scene.
The businessman told police he heard bursts of gunfire, looked out, and saw a dark car speed away.
He insists he has never had problems in Spain — and believes the people he crossed in Russia finally tracked him down. He claims they have repeatedly turned up at relatives’ homes, posing as police officers and asking about his whereabouts.
On one occasion, his mother-in-law was allegedly told he owed a lot of money and that “dangerous people were looking for him”.
The businessman now fears his location was leaked through Russian police contacts.
Civil Guard officers who testified at trial admitted they could not conclusively disprove his account.
The acquittal can still be appealed — but for now, the man who says he has spent years running for his life is walking free once again.
