ABOUT Lyubov Kuzmenok not only all of Siberia, but also all of Russia (*aggressor country) has heard about it. The former deputy prosecutor of the Novosibirsk region is suspected of receiving particularly large bribes. In June 2022, she was even put on the international wanted list. Kuzmenok was treated for bribes in Spain, but in July 2022 she was detained in Moscow. Babr decided to talk about what Lyubov is accused of and how the trials are progressing.
What is the fault?
Even when Kuzmenok was in Spain, the court of the capital authorized her arrest in absentia. Investigators accuse the third class State Counselor of Justice (corresponding to the rank of major general) of receiving bribes on an especially large scale. They believe that Lyubov received money for patronage from businessmen until 2018. That’s when the scandal broke. Due to various violations, top officials in the regional prosecutor’s office were deprived of their positions, and three dozen subordinates were punished.
In the winter of 2022, the ex-prosecutor of the region and one of his former deputies ended up in a pre-trial detention center. Kuzmenok was supposed to go on vacation with them, but she decided to change her geolocation and move to Spain. The lawyer argued that the suspect went abroad not to escape from the law, but for treatment.
Who is she?
In 2016, the first deputy prosecutor of the Novosibirsk region, Lyubov Kuzmenok, was awarded the rank of state counselor of justice of the third class. Kuzmenok then became the second female general in the Novosibirsk region. The path of Lyubov Kuzmenok was not easy; she went from an intern to the first deputy prosecutor of the Novosibirsk region. She was appointed to her latest position in 2014 and served there for four years.
In 2018, this whole scandal with the top began to rise. Just then, the prosecutor of the Novosibirsk region Vladimir Falileev was urgently summoned to Moscow to the Prosecutor General’s Office, he did not appear there and wrote a letter of resignation. But Kuzmenok was not afraid and went to the capital to talk. The meeting turned out to be not a pleasant one; it was at this meeting that the third-class State Counselor of Justice was asked to write a letter of resignation, which she did.
Calm before the storm
Immediately after her departure, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) came to Novosibirsk with a bunch of inspectors. As a result, many violations were revealed, and three dozen employees of the local prosecutor’s office were punished. After this there was a lull. But in 2022, a scandal broke out related to the 2018 resignations.
Former regional prosecutor Vladimir Falileev and his deputy Andrey Turbin were detained on bribery charges. The investigation accused them of receiving bribes from representatives of a large shopping center for exemption from inspections and general patronage. Kuzmenok herself was also involved in this case, who unexpectedly left on time for a vacation in Spain.
To date, Lyubov Kuzmenok has been caught and is in custody. Her detention was extended for another six months, and the hearing on the case will be held in the Leninsky District Court of Barnaul. All that is known today is that Kuzmenok denies the fact of fleeing to Spain. According to her, she went abroad because of the need for treatment in Belarus for COVID-19. Babr will continue to update his readers with new information on this case.