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Chairman of Russian Investigative Committee launches probe into retired magistrate suspected in mediation in bribery in the Republic of Tatarstan

The Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened an investigation into 36-year-old retired magistrate Elmira Ziganshina. She is suspected of committing an offense under Part 3 of Article 30; Paragraphs A and B of Part 3 of Article 291.1 of the Criminal Code of Russia (attempted mediation in bribery).

According to the investigation, in August 2017, while serving as a magistrate of the judicial sub-district No. 1 of the Kirovsky District of Kazan, Ziganshina asked her partner Artem Kosarev to tell representative of a civil claimant that she could facilitate an appeal to be ruled in his favour if he handed over a bribe of 450,000 roubles to authorities of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tatarstan. Kosarev told about this to his acquaintance Robert Khairutdinov, who, in his turn, passed the message to his acquaintance Eldar Ayupov.

The latter contacted the representative of the claimant and negotiated the proposal of Ziganshina. However, the representative of the claimant reported the man’s illegal actions to law enforcement authorities, and all subsequent actions were supervised by law enforcement services. As a result, Ayupov was detained upon receiving of cash on September 8, 2017. The involvement of Kosarev, Khairutdinov and Ayupov in the crime was fully recognised.

Investigative actions are being conducted to define all the circumstances of the committed offense and to reveal additional episodes of Ziganshina’s illegal activities. The Tatarstan Republican Investigations Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia is in charge of the investigation.