Major cases investigator arrested in absentia for extorting bribe from fish merchant

Yuri Tuzov

Maria Slezkina extorted 2 million euros from Yuri Tuzov, the prisoner of the Butyrka SIZO arrested on charges of kidnapping, he is a Murmansk fishery manager.

The Moscow Presnensky Court arrested in absentia 23-year-old Maria Slezkina, a former senior investigator for investigating major cases of the Central Administrative Department of the ICR for Moscow, Znak.com reports.

“The court granted the petition of the investigating authorities and chose a preventive measure in the form of arrest in absentia with respect to Slezkina,” said the representative of the court, adding that the ex-investigator is put on the international wanted list.

As Kommersant wrote in December 2018, Slezkina extorted 2 million euros from the prisoner of the Butyrka pre-trial detention center, Murmansk fishery producer Yuri Tuzov, arrested on charges of kidnapping. She promised to release the entrepreneur under house arrest.

As a senior investigator, Slezkina worked for only about ten months, resigning voluntarily in April 2018.

The criminal case against the woman was personally signed by Colonel of Justice Andrey Strizhov, the Head of the State Investigation Committee for the ICR in Moscow, because after his dismissal, Slezkina received legal status, registered with the North Ossetia Law Office under the registration number 15/1076 and acquired the status of a special entity.

The head of the North Ossetia Chamber of Attorneys, Sergey Tsallagov, refused to answer the journalists' question about how Slezkina became a lawyer and was later excluded from the database.

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