The husband who ordered an acid attack on his wife was identified as the leader of a Yekaterinburg organized crime group.

      Journalists in Yekaterinburg recognized the man detained on Wednesday on suspicion of organizing an acid attack on his ex-wife as the leader of one of the organized crime groups, Nikolai Ermakov.

      The organized crime group “Dondiki,” which was involved in the funeral business, was much talked about in the late 2010s. “Dondiki” were considered the “cemetery mafia.” Officially, however, IP Dondik is a group of companies on Yekaterinburg’s funeral services market. In 2019 a former member of the “dondiki” group told URA.RU that he named Nikolai Ermakov among its leaders.

      “Ermakov is the head of the whole organization, he has the largest share. As I understand it, he invented this whole ritual business and dragged the others into it. Previously I, at their request, wrote complaints about other undertakers, but Ermakov wanted his name to be heard everywhere (remember, he ran for deputy?), so he set up a charitable foundation from which he issues appeals and sits as an expert in the public chamber, although he has never done anything except his ‘funeral business,’” Dmitry Malyshev told the publication. Malyshev himself made Yekaterinburg headlines when he demanded permission to bury a friend himself.

      In today’s news (related to the attempt on his ex-wife Alena Fominykh, who left him with their younger children), Nikolai Ermakov is cited as a media manager — the owner of “Ermak Media.”

      He has been charged with preparation for organizing a murder (part 3 of art. 30, part 3 of art. 33, subparagraph “zh” of part 2 of art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), URA.RU reports. The Ordzhonikidzevsky District Court of Yekaterinburg will decide his pretrial measure today.