A court in Moscow has handed lengthy prison terms to two relatives of a former member of the Russian parliament's upper chamber who along with his father is serving a life sentence for masterminding the murder of two officials in the North Caucasus region of Karachai-Cherkessia.
The Preobrazhensky district court on March 4 sentenced former Federation Council member Rauf Arashukov's cousin Ruslan Arashukov to 16 1/2 years in prison on charges of embezzlement and participation in a criminal group.
The court also sentenced Beslan Arashukov, Arashukov's second cousin, to 16 years in prison on the same charges.
Nine other defendants were handed prison terms between five and 19 years. One defendant, a woman, received a suspended sentence and left the court a free person.
Rauf Arashukov and his father, Raul, were each sentenced to life in prison in December 2022 after a jury found Rauf Arashukov guilty of creating a criminal group and organizing the 2010 murders of Fral Shebzukhov, an adviser to the leader of the North Caucasus region of Karachai-Cherkessia, and Aslan Zhukov, deputy chairman of a youth movement in the mostly Muslim region.
The court also convicted Raul Arashukov of fraud and ordering the two killings. At the time of his arrest, he was serving as a local lawmaker in Karachai-Cherkessia and as an adviser to the chief executive of a Gazprom subsidiary.
Rauf Arashukov, 37, was detained in late January 2019 at a dramatic session of the upper house after fellow lawmakers voted to strip him of his immunity from prosecution.
He represented Karachai-Cherkessia in the Federation Council. His 64-year-old father was arrested at the same time, along with several other people, including their relatives.
Both Rauf and Raul Arashukov pleaded not guilty. The former lawmaker has insisted that the cases against him and his father are politically motivated.