04:48, 26 July 2025

Defendants in Elena Zolotareva's case plead not guilty

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At the court hearing, former chairperson of the Rostov Regional Court Elena Zolotareva and her colleagues, accused of bribery, refused to admit guilt.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, in April the Supreme Court of Russia upheld the decision to transfer the case of Elena Zolotareva and other Rostov judges to the Pervomaisky District Court of Krasnodar. On June 11, the arrest of Zolotareva and her former colleagues was extended for three months.

In May 2023, the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Alexander Bastrykin asked the High Qualification Collegium of Judges to agree to initiate criminal cases against the head of the Rostov Regional Court Elena Zolotareva, her deputy Tatyana Yurova, and the chairman of the Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Rostov-on-Don Georgy Bondarenko. The commission allowed the criminal case to be initiated, after which the Basmanny Court of Moscow arrested Zolotareva and Yurova. Bondarenko was stripped of his powers and position and also sent to a pre-trial detention center. The appellate court refused to transfer them to house arrest.

At the hearing of the Pervomaisky District Court of Krasnodar on the case of Elena Zolotareva, as well as her former colleagues, the prosecutor read out the charges, 1rnd.ru wrote on July 25.

All defendants stated that they do not plead guilty. Elena Zolotareva also added that she refuses to testify, while her former deputy Tatyana Yurova said that she will exercise her right to testify during court hearings.

The criminal prosecution of Rostov judges will not lead to a mass review of the sentences they handed down, but convicted persons can challenge them in the qualification board of judges, lawyers interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" indicated.

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Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/413326