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Investigators believe Russian senator paid $22,400 for two murders

Arashukov pleaded not guilty and said the case was politically motivated
Senator Rauf Arashukov Sergei Bobylyov/TASS
Senator Rauf Arashukov
© Sergei Bobylyov/TASS

MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/. Russia’s Investigative Committee believes that Senator Rauf Arashukov, who represented the Karachay-Circassian Region, paid 1.5 mln rubles ($22,400) for the contract murders of Deputy Chairman of the Adyge Khase youth movement Aslan Zhukov and the regional head’s adviser Fral Shebzukhov, a law enforcement source told TASS.

"Rustam Kopsergenov, who acted as mediator between the contractor and hired assassins, said during an interrogation last year that Rauf had paid 500,000 rubles ($7,400) for Shebzukhov’s murder, which confirmed what the assassins had said back in 2012. Another defendant, Rasul Adzhiyev, told investigators that Arashukov’s brother-in-law had paid him one mln rubles ($15,000) for Zhukov’s murder," the source said.

TASS has no official comments on the matter.

Arashukov case

Senator Rauf Arashukov was detained on January 30 during a meeting of Russia’s upper house, the Federation Council, which is the first such incident in the history of the Russian parliament. The Federation Council stripped Arashukov of immunity and agreed to his indictment on criminal charges.

According to the Russian Investigative Committee, he is suspected of being involved in the murders of Deputy Chairman of the Adyge Khase youth movement Aslan Zhukov and Adviser to the head of the Karachay-Circassian Region Fral Shebzukhov. He is charged under the Russian Criminal Code’s Articles 210.3 (participation in a criminal association), 309.4 (witness tampering) and 105.2 (murder).

Arashukov pleaded not guilty and said the case was politically motivated.