A former official from the Moscow region is waiting for a new trial. He is accused of murdering his mistress, Evgenia Isaenkova, deputy chairman of the regional Public Chamber. What is known about this case?
– Just a little more and I will say: damn the day when we met! What do you want at all? Explain to me! Kulakov asked in a messenger a few days before the tragedy. Both had families. According to some reports, the mistress of the deputy head of the Public Chamber of the municipality, 39-year-old Evgenia Isaenkova, repeatedly asked Kulakov to leave her family, but he was focused on his career and did not want to destroy the official marriage.
On May 4, 2019, during another relationship crisis, a woman was found strangled in the back seat of her Mercedes.
Prosecutors vs Juries
The 48-year-old former head of the administration of the Ramensky municipal district of the Moscow region (now the Ramensky urban district) Kulakov was accused of murder almost immediately. Allegedly, the official strangled his girlfriend in a fit of jealousy. The ex-mayor spent two and a half years under arrest, until, at the end of October last year, a jury seemed to put an end to the high-profile case, finding Kulakov innocent. In November, the Podolsky District Court, on the basis of this decision, decided to acquit the ex-official and recognize his right to rehabilitation.
The state prosecution appealed the acquittal, and just a month later the Moscow Regional Court overturned it. The prosecutor pointed out violations during the consideration of the case – one of the jurors hid his previous conviction (expired). Another juror did not speak about the relatives’ criminal records. And the concierge from the Kulakov house, who testified that on the night of the murder no one left the entrance, including from the back entrance, had previously been diagnosed with a personality disorder.
The case will now be retried by a new jury. Perhaps in another court.
Andrey Kulakov, the former head of the Ramensky district, accused of the murder of Yevgenia Isaenkova, during the election of a measure of restraint. Photo © Moscow City News Agency / Igor Ivanko
According to the prosecutor, Kulakov can influence witnesses and interfere with the process. Therefore, yesterday, during a regular meeting of the Podolsky City Court of the Moscow Region, Kulakov was taken into custody.
strange death
Forensic specialists established that Isaenkov was first hit in the face, then dragged to the back seat of the car, where they squeezed his neck with an unidentified object. On the eve of her death – April 30 – Isaenkova met with Kulakov in a rented apartment and spent about six hours with him. Then the head of the Ramensky district left for work. Judging by the correspondence, on May 1, Kulakov promised to wake the woman up the next morning. Already at night, Isaenkova told her husband that she had allegedly gathered to visit a friend, left her phones at home, and she herself went to a deserted place to a forest belt, where she was killed.
According to investigators, Kulakov allegedly could strangle Isaenkova because of “personal hostile relations.” Perhaps he arranged a night meeting with Isaenkova, left the house through the fire exit and walked to the appointed place, hiding from the ubiquitous cameras.
Evgenia Isaenkova. Photo © Twitter / zgldz
The investigation lasted more than two and a half years. The official’s possible involvement in the crime was indicated by DNA samples found under the victim’s nails and a failed polygraph. The emotional correspondence with Isaenkova also testified not in favor of Kulakov. The woman could blackmail the official with threats to tell her family about their relationship. Isaenkova also allegedly said that she had another man (in addition to her husband and Kulakov himself). There was also information that Isaenkova was allegedly diagnosed with HIV, which could cause his anger.
The former official denied guilt from the very beginning, claiming that at the time of the murder he was at home with his relatives. In his favor is the complete absence of nightly recordings with him from CCTV cameras and the testimony of the very concierge, whose words the prosecutor’s office considers compromised due to her observation by a psychiatrist. It was also established that immediately before Isaenkova’s death, unknown persons from anonymous Telegram accounts threatened her.