The defense of former Senator Arashukov announced an appeal of the new verdict.
Former Senator Arashukov's sentence for attempting to bribe a Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) officer has entered into force; his defense intends to appeal.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," in October 2024, it became known that former Senator from Karachay-Cherkessia Rauf Arashukov was accused of transferring three million rubles to employees of the Black Dolphin prison colony in exchange for favorable conditions for him serving his sentence. Arashukov himself called the bribery case a provocation before the hearing of his appeal against the verdict in the murder and criminal organization case. On January 13, the court found Arashukov guilty of attempting to bribe a prison colony employee and ordered him to pay a fine of 120 million rubles.
On December 27, 2022, the Moscow City Court sentenced Rauf Arashukov and his father, Raul Arashukov, to life imprisonment. The appellate and cassation courts upheld the sentence. In October 2024, Rauf Arashukov demanded a transfer to a prison colony in Mordovia, claiming he was being subjected to torture and provocation at the Black Dolphin prison in the Orenburg region. Following his complaint, the prosecutor's office conducted an inspection of the prison and stated that it found no violations.
The sentence against former senator Rauf Arashukov, serving a life sentence in the Black Dolphin special regime penal colony for attempting to bribe an employee of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Orenburg Region with six million rubles, has entered into force, according to the website of the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia.
The statement clarified that, given the position of the state prosecutor, Arashukov's arguments in the Orenburg Regional Court were found to be unfounded. "The sentence has entered into force," the office noted today.
According to lawyer Dmitry Trubnikov, the former senator's defense disagrees with this decision. "We will continue to appeal," TASS quotes him as saying.
The lawyer noted that the defense intends to present the same arguments they made in the appeal at the cassation court. Arashukov and his lawyer claimed that the bribe was initiated by an FSIN officer, but that the convict himself did not instruct anyone to hand over the money.