Rauf Arashukov was removed from the post of senator by the decision of the Basmanny court. This is the press service of the Investigative Committee.

“At the request of the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, the court issued a decision on the removal from public office of a member of the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Rauf Arashukov. The decision on dismissal was taken by the court for the duration of the investigation of the criminal case, ”the message says.

It clarifies RIA Novosti, the investigator in court said that the accused Rauf Arashukov can use his post to threaten witnesses and victims, as well as "otherwise put pressure on the investigation."

In turn, the lawyer Arashukova Anna Stavitskaya said that the investigator in her argument did not give arguments, "which are necessary from the point of view of the law." In her opinion, the decision of the court does not make sense, since the accused is in custody and cannot influence anyone.

The Council of Federation clarified that the decision regarding the senator was made in accordance with the law "On the status of a member of the Federation Council and a State Duma deputy."

“It is caused by the need to conduct an impartial trial,” said the first deputy chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Svetlana Goryachev’s regulations.

It is noted that the adopted restriction is temporary, it is valid for the period of the investigation. After removal from office, Arashukov Jr. was granted an allowance in the amount of the subsistence minimum.

"Involved in an organized group of their relatives and friends"

32-year-old senator from Karachay-Cherkessia Rauf Arashukova was detained at a meeting of the Federation Council on January 30, 2019. At the time of the detention, the head of the Investigation Committee Alexander Bastrykin and the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Yuri Chaika were present in the hall, the latter announced to the senators the idea of ​​depriving the 32-year-old parliamentarian of immunity.

The members of the Federation Council unanimously supported the presentation of the supervisory authority, after which Arashukov Jr. was taken out of the hall.

As the speaker of the Federation Council, Valentina Motiviyenko, said later, the detention was made “elegantly”, without “Hollywood scenes.”

“There were no handcuffs, no escape. Everything was done very elegantly in the meeting room of the Council of the Federation, there were no military actions, people in masks, nothing like that, ”RIA Novosti quotes Matvienko as saying.

However, the speaker of Sovfeda said that Arashukov initially tried to leave the meeting, but he was told to stay.

Rauf Arashukova is charged with particularly serious crimes. He is suspected of involvement in the assassination of the adviser to the head of the KCh, Frul Shebzukhov and a social activist Aslan Zhukov in 2010, as well as in the creation of a criminal organization and theft of natural gas of PJSC Gazprom.

On the same day, the father of Senator Raul Arashukov was detained. Later, he was charged under article of the Criminal Code "Fraud, the creation of a criminal community."

According to the investigation, since 2002 a criminal group has been operating in Dagestan, the Stavropol Territory and the Karachay-Cherkess Republic organized by Raul Arashukov.

“The accused involved his relatives and acquaintances in an organized group. Using his influence and his official position, he contributed to their appointment to various positions in gas industry enterprises, ”RIA Novosti reports the words of the representative of the UK Russia Svetlana Petrenko.

According to the ministry, the plan for theft of gas was organized precisely by Arashukov Sr.

“By establishing the necessary contacts with officials of state and law enforcement agencies, he influenced their activities and also prevented the appointment to certain positions of those who could stop the activities of a criminal organization,” said Petrenko.

In addition to Rauf and Raul Arashukovs, ten other defendants were arrested in the case, including friends and relatives of the first detainees. In addition, the UK reported more than 70 searches in a case conducted in the Stavropol Territory, the Karachay-Cherkess Republic and Dagestan, including at gas-consuming enterprises.