Former Russian senator gets 10-year sentence for bribery while serving life term

Former Russian senator Rauf Arashukov, already serving a life sentence for organising a criminal network and contract killings, has been sentenced to an additional 10 years in prison and fined 120 million roubles ($1.6 million) for bribery.

According to his lawyer Dmitry Trubnikov, Arashukov bribed an employee at the Black Dolphin prison, a high-security facility for life convicts, through his lawyer, Caliber.Az reports per Russian media.

The bribe, estimated at 3 million roubles ($40,000), was allegedly intended to secure preferential treatment, including extra phone calls, visits, parcels, the ability to choose work assignments, and the option to share a cell with a selected inmate.

The new charges emerged in October 2024, when authorities opened a case against Arashukov for bribery on an “especially large scale.” 

By Sabina Mammadli