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Investigative Committee suspects Russian senator of being involved in two murders

The investigators suspect him of involvement in a series of grave crimes, in particular the organization of a criminal network and the organization of murders
Senator for the Karachay-Circassian Region Rauf Arashukov  Valery Sharifulin/TASS
Senator for the Karachay-Circassian Region Rauf Arashukov
© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. The Russian Investigative Committee has implicated Rauf Arashukov, a senator from the Karachay-Circassian Region in two murders in 2010. The first murder was that of Aslan Zhukov, deputy chairman of the public youth movement Adyge Khase and the second was for the murder of Fral Shebzukhov, advisor to the head of the Karachay-Circassian Region, Russian Investigative Committee Spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told journalists.

"The investigators found that member of the Federation Council from the executive authority of the Karachay-Circassian Region Rauf Arashukov was involved in these specified crimes," she said.

After the Federation Council had studied the report submitted by the general prosecutor on January 30, a decision was made to strip Arashukov of immunity as a Federation Council legislator and officially implicate him as the defendant. Petrenko reiterated that these criminal cases are being investigated by the Main Investigative Directorate of the Russian Investigative Committee.

A law enforcement source earlier reported that the investigators would strive for Arashukov’s arrest.

"The investigators suspect him of being involved in a series of grave crimes, in particular the organization of a criminal network and the organization of murders. The investigators will file a motion for Arashukov’s arrest," the source said. He will take part in investigation procedures and then will be questioned, he said.

A source in the upper house earlier said that Arashukov had been detained on Wednesday at a session of the Federation Council. Before the 32-year-old parliamentary member was taken into custody, the Federation Council’s plenary session had been closed to the media, and officers of the Russian Federal Guard Service blocked the entry to the session hall.

Arashukov became senator on September 18, 2016.