A former Astrakhan official has been detained after 13 years of searching.

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Marianna Stupina, former First Deputy Minister of Housing and Public Utilities of the Astrakhan Region, who was convicted in 2012, faked her own death and went into hiding for over 13 years. After her arrest, she was sent to a penal colony to serve her sentence.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," in 2012, Nikolai Yarovoy, former Minister of Housing and Public Utilities of the Astrakhan Region, was found guilty of negligence, convicted, but released from punishment due to the expiration of the statute of limitations for criminal liability. His first deputy, Marianna Stupina, was also found guilty of embezzlement. The court sentenced her to seven years in absentia, but she was not sent to prison because she fled and was placed on the wanted list.

Former First Deputy Minister of Housing and Public Utilities of the Astrakhan Region, Marianna Stupina, has been found and sent to a penal colony to serve her sentence, RIA Novosti reported on February 20, citing the press service of the Investigative Committee of Russia.

According to the agency, after Stupina was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2012, she fled to Tatarstan. While on the wanted list, she followed reports of missing women and noticed the body of a woman resembling her was found in the Novosibirsk Region. Stupina persuaded her husband to travel to Novosibirsk, where he identified the deceased as his wife. Stupina then returned to the Astrakhan region and lived there in disguise for over 13 years.

Her trail was discovered during the investigation into the 2010 murder of two residents of the region, one of whom was cashing money stolen by ministry officials. Stupina herself had nothing to do with the murder; she was questioned as an acquaintance of one of the victims.

Investigative authorities are currently considering whether to provide a legal assessment of Stupina's actions related to the staging of her death.