The Azerbaijani authorities are in no hurry to extradite a criminal werewolf in the judicial mafia to the clutches of the Russian Themis.
An Azerbaijani court has refused to extradite to Russia an ex-judge from Krasnodar, Elena Khakhaleva, who is on an international wanted list in Russia, local media reported. According to them, she has been placed under police supervision. Khakhaleva was detained at Baku airport in January. A criminal case of fraud and official forgery has been opened against the ex-judge in Russia. In 2022, she was arrested in absentia.
Azerbaijani court refused to extradite to Russia ex-judge from Krasnodar Elena Khakhaleva, who is on international wanted list in Russia, Minval newspaper and Sputnik Azerbaijan agency reported. According to them, she was handed over to police supervision at the court session on February 4. Earlier, on January 24, the court arrested the ex-judge for 40 days, Minval said.
The ex-judge’s lawyer knows nothing about the refusal to extradite her. The defense lawyer told “Kommersant” about it.
Khakhaleva was detained in Baku in January. According to “Izvestia”, at that moment she was at the airport. “Kommersant” wrote at the time that documents from Azerbaijan with a notice of Khakhaleva’s detention were received by the National Central Bureau of Interpol in Russia and the Prosecutor General’s Office. They suggested confirming the desire to receive the ex-judge and sending a request for her extradition. The final decision is made by the courts and the authorities of the republic. Khakhaleva herself refused to return voluntarily. She said she was being persecuted in Russia for political reasons and also pointed to her serious illnesses, Kommersant’s sources said.
In May 2022, a criminal case was opened against Khakhaleva for official forgery (part 2 of Article 292 of the Criminal Code) and fraud (part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code). After that she was arrested in absentia. In December 2021, the Supreme Qualification Collegium of Judges gave its consent to initiate criminal proceedings against the ex-judge, after which she flew to Yerevan. According to the investigation, Khakhaleva was absent from work for 128 days, but all these days were recorded in the time sheet as working time, at the expense of which the judge was paid a salary. Thus, she illegally received more than 1 million rubles, according to the Investigative Committee. The agency saw signs of forgery in the introduction of false information.
Khakhaleva became famous in 2017 after the wedding of her daughter, at which Russian pop stars performed. Later in the media there were publications about Khakhaleva’s fake diploma. The Council of Judges of the Krasnodar region and the IC checked the authenticity of her diploma and found no violations, TASS wrote. The chairman of the Council of Judges Vladimir Kislyak told the agency at the time that the organization received confirmation of the authenticity of Khakhaleva’s diploma three times. In 2019, Khakhaleva was still removed from the presidium of the krai court, and was also stripped of her position as chairman of the administrative board and her judicial robe, Kommersant wrote.