Vitaly Gamov

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[[Major General]] '''Vitaly Ivanovich Gamov''' ({{lang-ru|Виталий Иванович Гамов}}; 1962 - 28 May 2002),<ref name=comeback>[http://www.nomad.su/?a=15-200205310008 "Я вернусь домой генералом..." ] [[Karavan]] 31 May 2002</ref> was a Deputy Commander of the Pacific Regional Directorate of the [[Border Guard Service of Russia]].<ref>[http://www.regnum.ru/news/564622.html Расследование уголовного дела об убийстве генерала Гамова завершено] [[REGNUM News Agency|Regnum]]</ref> He was killed in his house after refusing to take bribes and allow poachers to outsource their recourse to Japan.<ref name=gazeta>[http://www.gazeta.ru/social/2008/06/19/2758924.shtml Гамова сожгли неосторожные хулиганы] [[Gazeta.ru]] 19 June 2008</ref>

Gamov was born to the family of a [[kolkhoz]] truck driver in [[Gorny Gigant]] near [[Almaty]], [[Kazakhstan]], then part of the [[Soviet Union]]. He graduated from the school of border guards and served mostly in the Russian Far East. He took part in the [[First Chechen War]], was a commander of the [[Yuzhno-Kurilsky District|South Kurily]] Border Guards, then Yuzhnosakhalinsk Group of Border Guards. He became a [[Major General]] at the age of 39.<ref name=comeback/>

On May 21, 2002 his [[Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk]] apartment with was burnt by a flaming torch and three plastic canisters filled with petrol thrown through the window. At the time of the incident Vitaly Gamov, his wife Larissa and his son Ivan were in the apartment. As Vitaly Gamov struggled to put out the flames, his son opened a door to escape. A gust of air swept into the room, causing the burning petrol to explode. Ivan managed to escape with only minor burns, but his parents were less fortunate. From [[Sakhalin]], Ivan's 38-year-old mother was eventually flown to a hospital in [[Tokyo]]. There, she underwent months of treatment for burns covering her entire body.
Ivan's father only made it as far as [[Sapporo]], on the neighbouring Japanese island of [[Hokkaido]]. "Vitaly never passed out, though his skin was flaking," a neighbour told Reuters. "I led him to the ambulance. His skin was grey and tough like wood. It was an awful sight." A week later, Gamov died in the hospital.

On November 17, 2006, four and a half years after the deadly attack, three men (Alexei Anikin, Alexei Britov and Sergei Malyutin) faced a Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk court and were declared guilty of arson and manslaughter. The persecutors insisted on the charges of intentional murder but the court found that they were not proven. The accused were sentenced to four years in prison. The case was appealed in the [[Supreme Court of the Russian Federation]] but on 26 November 2008 it decided not to change the sentence<ref>[http://www.regnum.ru/news/1089870.html Верховный суд оставил без изменений приговор виновным в гибели генерала Гамова (Сахалин)] [[REGNUM News Agency|Regnum]] 26 November 2008</ref>

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamov, Vitaly}}
[[Category:Russian generals]]
[[Category:People from Almaty]]
[[Category:People of the Chechen wars]]
[[Category:1962 births]]
[[Category:2002 deaths]]

Kazakhstan Encyclopedia - User contributions [en]

Vitaly Gamov