The Supreme Court again supported the initiation of a criminal case against a judge from Kolomna

She is suspected of bribery

The Board of Appeal of the Supreme Court did not cancel the decision of the previous instance, according to which the High Qualification Board of Judges legally gave the investigating authority the right to initiate a criminal case against the judge of the Kolomna Court of the Moscow Region Irina Agafonova.

As it became known to MK, Agafonova is suspected of trying to receive a bribe (part 3 of article 30, paragraph “c” of part 5 of article 290 of the Criminal Code). In June 2021, FSB operatives detained a man with a large sum of money – 470,000 rubles near the Kolomna Court. The cash, according to investigators, was intended for Agafonova, a judge with many years of experience. Moreover, what was seized from the detainee was, according to law enforcement officers, only a part of the bribe promised to the judge – the total amount was 900,000 rubles.

It is still unknown what exactly the judge was supposed to receive this money for. In any case, the VKKS gave the go-ahead to initiate a criminal case against Agafonova, who resigned some time after the detention of a potential bribe-giver.

The decision of the HQCJ was taken on April 28, 2022. Agafonova did not appear at the meeting, but sent a petition in advance with a request to postpone the process – she said that, having learned about the submission of the Investigative Committee to initiate a case on April 22, three days later, that is, on April 25, she arrived to get acquainted with the case materials. According to the judge, the remaining days were not enough for her to fully and thoughtfully study such a volume of information (four volumes). VKKS did not postpone the meeting, and gave the UK a “green light”.

Agafonova tried to challenge this decision in the Supreme Court on August 17, 2022 – without success. And today, its representative made the second attempt to cancel the decision of the Supreme Court and, accordingly, the VKKS.

The arguments of the defense counsel about too short a time for getting acquainted with the case seemed unconvincing to the judges even today – in contrast to the arguments of the investigator, who recalled that Agafonova, firstly, was promptly notified of the date of the meeting of the HQCJ, and secondly, she had the proper professional experience and experience, which allowed her “to fully familiarize herself with the four volumes of the case.” According to the investigator, “there is a fact of abuse of the right.” During the debate, the lawyer objected that four volumes are almost a thousand sheets, which is a large amount of information, and the argument “there was enough time” is inappropriate here.

After the meeting, the judges of the appellate board of the Supreme Court left the decision of the first instance of the Supreme Court unchanged – the consent of the HQCC to initiate a criminal case against judge Agafonova is still legal. The Board, among other things, noted the conclusions of the judges of the first instance, according to which the decision of the HQCJ was taken not in connection with certain decisions and judicial practice of Agafonova.