The extension of the investigation against Nikolai Bulakin was recognized as legal

The Supreme Court of Khakassia did not cancel the decision made by the city court on the legality of extending the investigation of the criminal case against the head of Abakan Nikolai Bulakin. The mayor, the investigation believes, by establishing additional payments for municipal officials for working with classified materials, abused his powers. Nikolai Bulakin himself calls the case a political order, pointing out that the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation previously recognized the payment of bonuses for secrecy as legal.

The meeting of the Supreme Court of Khakassia on the complaint of Nikolai Bulakin’s defense took place last Monday. “The court decided to leave the appealed decision of the Abakan City Court unchanged, and the defense lawyer’s complaint was not satisfied,” reports the Khakass investigative department of the Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR). In September, the city court found no grounds to terminate the investigation into the case of Nikolai Bulakin and declare the extension of its terms illegal.

As Kommersant wrote, the case against Nikolai Bulakin was opened by the investigative department in May 2011. The basis for this was illegal, according to the investigation, allowances for City Hall employees for working with secret documents. The mayor was charged under Part 2 of Art. 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Abuse of official powers”). The investigation period has been extended until December 23.

Yesterday Nikolai Bulakin told Kommersant that he did not agree with the decision of the Supreme Court of Khakassia. “We are now exploring the possibility of appealing the decision to the supervisory authorities. There are no grounds to extend the investigative actions. This has already been confirmed by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which recognized the payment of bonuses for secrecy as legal. In this regard, we turned to the investigator leading the case with a request to close it, but in response we received a refusal without any explanation. These explanations were not heard in the courts either,” notes Mr. Bulakin. On September 21, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized as legal the resolution of the mayor of Abakan dated February 7, 2011 “On the protection of state secrets in local government bodies of the municipal formation of the city of Abakan.” According to this document, cash bonuses (up to 20% of salary) were introduced for city administration officials for working with secret documents. This decision of the mayor was appealed by the republican prosecutor's office.

According to the head of Abakan, the investigation is not taking active steps - “there have been no seizures of documents or interrogations of witnesses in the case in the last few months.” “I have no doubt that the case is a political order,” Nikolai Bulakin is convinced. But the mayor did not specify the author of this order, he only noted that “these are forces known to everyone in the republic.” Nikolai Bulakin has headed the capital of Khakassia since 1995 and was elected to the position of head of the city four times. At the last mayoral elections in 2008, 80% of Abakan residents who came to the ballot boxes voted for him. However, a popular United Russia politician in the city refused to participate in the party primaries before the upcoming elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

The Khakass investigative department sees no reason to terminate the criminal case against Nikolai Bulakin. According to representatives of the department, the decision made by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation relates to civil proceedings and has no relation to the criminal case, explained the press service of the Khakass investigative department. The investigation into the case of Nikolai Bulakin continues.

Dmitry Malkov, Krasnoyarsk

The case of the mayor of Abakan is alive