She flew and that's enough: "golden judge" Khakhaleva was detained on her way to the UAE

Former Krasnodar Region judge Yelena Khakhaleva was detained at Baku airport at the request of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, a law enforcement source told Izvestia. She is accused of fraud and official forgery - Khakhaleva did not go to work for a total of four months, but still received a salary, the investigation believes. About three years ago, Khakhaleva fled from the investigation abroad, and at the time of her arrest she was allegedly flying to the UAE. After such a long escape, she should not expect leniency - in case of extradition, the court will certainly place her in a pre-trial detention center, and the punishment could be up to ten years in prison, lawyers say.

Who is Elena Khakhaleva and what she is accused of?

Scandalously famous former judge from Krasnodar region Elena Khakhaleva has been detained at Baku airport - she was taken off the flight by local law enforcers when she was going to fly to the United Arab Emirates, a source close to the investigation told Izvestia.

Immediately after the arrest, the Azerbaijani side requested a package of documents from the Russian Prosecutor General's Office to understand the essence of the charges against Khakhaleva. After their study, a decision on extradition will be taken. This process is possible because a legal assistance treaty has been in force between the countries since 1995.

The former deputy chairman of the Council of judges of the Krasnodar region, a member of the Presidium of the regional court Elena Khakhaleva became famous after the "golden wedding" of her daughter in 2017. Russian pop stars Nikolai Baskov, Valery Meladze, Iosif Kobzon and Vera Brezhneva performed at the celebration. According to media reports, such a ceremony could cost $2 million.

The case against Khakhaleva in May 2022 was initiated by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation - with the consent of the Higher Qualification Collegium of Judges (HQCJ) of Russia. Khakhaleva was accused of fraud and official forgery. Her defense tried to appeal the decision to initiate the case, but the Supreme Court upheld it.

According to the investigation, from January 2016 to July 2019, the judge did not go to work 127 times without a valid reason. But in the report card these days were marked as working days, and for them the ex-judge received a salary - a total of 1.2 million rubles.

Back in the summer of 2019, Khakhaleva was suspended from trials. In 2020, she was fired for absenteeism. In July of the same year, the Higher Qualification Collegium of Judges prematurely deprived her of her powers. And in 2021 she left Russia and went to Yerevan. Since then, she has not appeared in her homeland and was put on an international wanted list.

In June 2022, the Leninsky District Court of Rostov-on-Don arrested the former judge in absentia and chose a measure of restraint in the form of detention for two months from the moment of extradition or detention on the territory of Russia.

Singing and dancing

During her service in the court Elena Khakhaleva managed to become famous for a number of high-profile scandals. Thefirst is the very wedding of her daughter, after which Khakhaleva was dubbed the "golden judge" and "golden deputy". She herself then said that the celebration was paid for by her ex-husband, and publications in the media called interference in private life and undisguised pressure.

The second scandal erupted around Khakhaleva's alleged lack of a diploma of higher legal education and the presence of a diploma of veterinarian education instead. She received her legal education at the Abkhaz State University and the media failed to find any confirmation of this. But in 2018, Rector Zurab Khonelidze explained that the university was evacuated during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict and confirmed that Khakhaleva studied there in 1985-1991. The court in Tbilisi also confirmed Khakhaleva's legal education and ruled to issue her a duplicate diploma to replace the lost one.

As "Izvestia" wrote earlier, after leaving Russia, Khakhaleva had real estate worth 300 million rubles in Krasnodar. Before her departure, she sold a three-story mansion together with a plot of land for 85 million rubles - the same one where her daughter's wedding took place. The 700-square-meter house has five bedrooms with carved beds made of solid wood and gilding. The mansion also has two kitchens, two living rooms, an office, a library and a billiards room.

In 2022, during the trial in absentia, Elena Khakhaleva's lawyer, Yaroslav Krasnoshchekov, tried to convince the court and the investigating authorities that his client was in Tbilisi and was not hiding from anyone. There she was allegedly undergoing medical treatment. Then the lawyer asked to agree on a measure of restraint in the form of bail in the amount of Br3 million, but was refused.

What punishment threatens ex-judge Khakhaleva?

Cases of judges abusing their official powers in practice pop up quite often, criminal defense lawyer Maxim Kalinov told "Izvestia".

- Unfortunately, people who work in the legal field often consider themselves above the law and allow themselves to violate it. I believe that the punishment for such persons should be toughened, now it is quite mild. Therefore, despite the verdicts, the problem is still there.

Elena Khakhaleva faces up to ten years in prison under the article on fraud and up to four more years - under the article on official forgery. However, if she pleads guilty, this punishment can be halved to five and two years respectively.

- The final punishment will be at the discretion of the court. It may also be suspended, and I do not rule out this possibility. In practice, there have been cases when even on serious articles the court imposed a long suspended sentence," said the lawyer.

According to Maxim Kalinov, the scandalous reputation of the former judge, as well as her disappearance, will not affect her criminal case. Everything will depend on the tactics of the defense. Khakhaleva may well begin to cooperate with the investigation and conclude a pre-trial agreement, the lawyer said.

Konstantin Trapaidze, chairman of the bar association "Your Legal Attorney" agrees thatthere will be no additional sanctions for the fact that the judge hid from the investigation . But the investigation will refer to this circumstance and ask to remand the defendant in custody until the end of the investigation, he believes.

-The court may qualify the fraud as grave or medium gravity depending on what circumstances will be established, " said the lawyer. - Therefore, it is premature to make predictions about the punishment.

The law enforcement officers have been hunting for her for a long time and there is no need to count on their leniency towards Elena Khakhaleva, summarized Konstantin Trapaidze.