Senator Arashukov and his father sentenced to life imprisonment: details of the case

This case began as a militant from the life of the Italian mafia. January 30, 2019. The building of the upper house of parliament, Bolshaya Dmitrovka. The special forces burst into the meeting room of the Federation Council and, right in front of the astonished senators, grab Rauf Arashukov “under white hands”.

“Rauf Raulevich, sit down,” the head of the Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko, commands the dumbfounded politician. They whisper that the operation is led by the chairman of the TFR, Alexander Bastrykin. And then – the news is one another steeper: six detainees, including the head of the republican Investigative Committee, charges of murder and corruption crimes. And a very long legal process. On Tuesday, December 27, the Arashukov clan was finally sentenced.

The case was considered by the judge of the Moscow City Court Elena Guchenkova – “Miss Deadline” (as she was dubbed for harsh sentences). Former senator Rauf Arashukov, his father, ex-adviser to the general director of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Raul Arashukov, former head of the investigative department for Karachay-Cherkessia General Kazbek Bulatov, former head of the center for combating extremism of the Republican Ministry of Internal Affairs Colonel Timur Betuganov, Bulatov’s subordinate were waiting for their fate important investigator lieutenant colonel Andrei Filippov and director of the Mezhregiongaz Stavropol branch Guzer Khashukaev.

The jury found all the defendants guilty of a number of grave and especially grave crimes, for which the state prosecutor Maria Semenenko requested huge terms: life imprisonment for the father and son Arashukov, 24 years for the general and colonel in a strict regime colony, Filippov for 6 years 8 months in prison, Khashukaev – 5 years.

Lawyers for the defendants, with the exception of Khashukaev, asked the court to acquit all of them. For several episodes, there is allegedly no corpus delicti, for some, guilt has not been proven.

“We cannot challenge the jury’s verdict, according to the law, it is binding on the parties, we only asked the court to use its powers and justify our principals.

As far as my client is concerned, the jury’s opinion, how to put it mildly, let’s say, is very curious. The main witness who testified against him did not recognize him in court and said that he had not seen my client.

In part of the second charge, evidence was presented, the alleged absence of which was referred to by the investigation, but in court, the jury saw them. How the jury accused my client of this part is a mystery, in fact they said that the color, excuse me, of the red cap is green. I would like to believe that the judge will not leave this unattended, – said the general’s lawyer Alexander Samukhov.

What was the Arashukov clan accused of?

The leader of the Adyge-Khase youth movement, Aslan Zhukov, was shot dead in March 2010. On suspicion of committing a crime, Rasul Adzhiev was detained, who, according to the prosecution, had a conflict situation with Zhukov. In 2012, the Cherkessk City Court found Adzhiev not guilty of murder. However, in August 2019, Adzhiev again appeared at the investigating authorities and wrote a confession, insisting that it was he who committed the crime, and Rauf Arashukov ordered the murder for him for 1 million rubles.

Advisor to the President of Karachay-Cherkessia Fral Shebzukhov was killed in May 2010 in Cherkessk. The official was attacked by three unidentified men, beating him with baseball bats. Shebzukhov, evading blows, tried to escape, but was shot dead. According to the investigation, in 2010 Shebzukhov was a candidate for the post of head of the government of the KChR, which, according to the investigation, did not suit Rauf Arashukov, who also applied for this position. The murder was committed through an intermediary – Ruslan Kopsergenov, who said in court that Rauf Arashukov asked to beat and scare Shebzukhov. There was no task to kill Shezbukhov. He also confirmed that Rauf Arashukov paid 500 thousand rubles for intimidating Shebzukhov.

In order to steal gas in the territory of the Stavropol Territory and the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, as well as to cover up the activities of the criminal community, Raul Arashukov created and involved in the criminal community (Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) everyone who ended up with him in the dock, and not on one, but two (the case of several robbers is separated into a separate proceeding and is being heard in parallel in the Preobrazhensky Court).

Timur Betuganov is accused of falsifying an operational report on the investigation into the murder of Zhukov, and also putting pressure on witnesses, forcing them to give knowingly false testimony in this case. Kazbek Bulatov, according to investigators, met with Kopsergenov, an intermediary in ordering the murder of Shebzukhov, and offered him a scheme to escape criminal liability. He was also accused of abuse of power on the fact of pressure on the expert, who did the polygraph examination of Arashukova.

Andrey Filippov was accused of committing illegal actions on the instructions of Bulatov during the investigation of criminal cases and, in fact, did not hold the Arashukovs accountable.

Rauf Arashukov and Khashukaev were accused of actually stealing gas from a number of regional Gazprom companies in the amount of more than 3 billion rubles.

The trial was marked by a number of scandals. So, during the preliminary hearing, after a number of lawyers announced that they had not been given a copy of the indictment, the office of one of the lawyers was broken into.

– They just put a new door, and they broke it – a comedy. Explicit pressure, and no reaction from the leadership of the prosecutor’s office to this case, – said the lawyer of Ruslan Arashukov, Zareta Kyatova.

Also, the senator and his accomplices were actively unlucky with people’s judges. One of the jurors was suspended from participation in the process for talking with the defendant.

Another People’s Judge was challenged by the State Prosecution because an administrative protocol was drawn up against him for being in the subway in a state of alcoholic intoxication. The third juror at the time of the verdict was stopped by the traffic police for alleged violations and taken to the traffic police – he had to be replaced.

Finally, the lawyers received threats from witnesses. Thus, during the trial, one witness openly threatened the lawyers of Marina Andreeva (defends Rauf Arashukov) and lawyer Alexander Samukhov after uncomfortable questions addressed to them. There was no reaction from the court and the state prosecution.

However, much more questions were raised not even by threats, but by the interrogations of witnesses in the case themselves.

The key witness who organized the attack on Shebzukhov, Ruslan Kopsergenov, said he met Rauf in 2010. Arashukov turned to him with a request to find people to beat and scare Shebzukhov and gave him 500 thousand rubles. Ruslan entrusted this to a friend (a wheelchair user), who connected him with another person, who organized people to be beaten.

Kopsergenov stated that no one asked to kill anyone. The same witness was asked questions about the episode of General Bulatov – allegedly he gave recommendations on how to avoid trouble. Ruslan explained that he met with Bulatov and that he was a member of the Arashukov family. However, when asked directly by the court whether he knew any of the defendants, he recognized only the Arashukovs. To a direct question: “Is this Bulatov?” – Kopsergenov said that he had not seen this man.

Also, a convict for the murder of Shebzukhov was brought to court from the colony. He also said that he did not know any of the defendants sitting in the dock. The criminal confirmed that he was asked to beat and scare Shebzukhov. For execution, he attracted two acquaintances – one is serving a sentence, the other is wanted. They arrived “on business” by car.

When Shebzukhov started to run away, and then abruptly turned around and reached into his bosom, one of the pursuers thought that Shebzukhov had a gun. The assailant pulled out a pistol allegedly made in 1945 (“allegedly” because the weapon was not found, the witness explained that he sawed and threw away the barrel) and fired a shot in the direction of Shebzukhov. The witness explained that the shooter immediately left and did not see whether or not he hit the victim.

During the trial of Zhukov’s murder, a number of witnesses were interrogated, including the perpetrator of the murder, Azhdiev, who is serving a sentence in a colony for this crime. He said that Raul Arashukov’s son-in-law gave him 1 million rubles, but said that he was not aware that Rauf Arashukov had ordered this murder.

One of the last witnesses was questioned by polygraph examiner Irina Nikolaeva. At one time, investigator Filippov attracted her to conduct a polygraph study for Rauf Arashukov.

After she studied the materials of the criminal case on the murder of Shebzukhov, they went together to carry out the procedure to the senator’s house (this is not prohibited by law). In court, Nikolaeva said that she did not conduct a polygraph, as she was frightened by Arashukov and his bodyguard, who met her with a gun. However, when examining material evidence, a disk with a polygraph appeared on the table, like a devil from a snuffbox. After that, Nikolaeva became ill, and she was never seen again in court.

However, all these flaws and oddities did not prevent Judge Guchenkova from pronouncing the most severe sentence. The Arashukovs were sentenced to life imprisonment.