Billionaire Ibragim Suleymanov, arrested in Russia, faces life imprisonment

Billionaire Ibragim Suleymanov, recently arrested in Moscow, may face life imprisonment, Alexander Khaminsky, head of the law enforcement centre in Moscow and the Moscow Region, told RIA Novosti.

Suleymanov has been charged with two murders and one attempted murder.

Yesterday, the Basmanny Court of Moscow ordered Suleymanov to remain in custody until December 2. He is suspected of organising the contract killing of Georgy Tal, the former head of the Federal Service for Financial Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy.

The court session was held behind closed doors. While Suleymanov and his lawyers opposed closing the trial, the court accepted the investigation’s request.

Sources report that the businessman faces charges in three separate incidents of complicity. The alleged perpetrator of the murder, 55-year-old Abakar Darbishev, was detained two days earlier.

According to 5-tv.ru, Abakar Darbishev was apprehended on October 1 in Odintsovo. He resisted arrest during the search, but later died of cardiac arrest at the police station. Before his death, he reportedly provided testimony against Suleymanov.

Suleymanov, whose full name is Ibragim Ameyevich Suleymanov, is a Russian citizen born on May 29, 1967, in Rutul village, Rutul district, Dagestan ASSR, USSR.

Russian media describe Suleymanov as a “shadow billionaire” and a criminal associate of oligarchs, previously convicted for fraud and money laundering. He is the son-in-law of Platon Lebedev, former business partner of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and father of Rasul Suleymanov.

Suleymanov is also noted as the nominal owner of stakes in systemically important companies and a beneficiary of one of Russia’s key IT infrastructures, Sirena-Travel JSC.

By Tamilla Hasanova