OREANDA-NEWS The Azerbaijani authorities are ready to extradite former judge Elena Khakhaleva, known in the media as the "golden judge," to Russia after a court decision. This was reported to RIA Novosti by a source in the Azerbaijani law enforcement agencies.

According to him, the woman detained at Baku airport will be extradited to her homeland as soon as the court makes such a decision. Khakhaleva was about to fly to Dubai when it turned out at passport control that she was wanted.

The detention of the "golden judge" became known on January 27. In Russia, a criminal case has been opened against her for fraud and forgery. In the summer of 2022, the Leninsky District Court of Rostov-on-Don issued a decision to arrest Khakhaleva in absentia.

According to investigators, she stole more than one million rubles. From 2016 to 2019, Khakhaleva, who served as chairman of the Administrative Affairs Board of the Krasnodar Regional Court, was absent from her workplace for 128 working days. In 2017, Khakhaleva did not consider a single case, and the following year she considered only five. At the same time, she entered false information in the report card.

On December 15, 2021, the Higher Qualification Board of Judges (HCCC) of Russia agreed to bring Khakhaleva to criminal responsibility. She herself did not attend the board meeting. According to the FSB, on December 8, 2021, the ex-judge flew to Yerevan and did not return to Russia.

Khakhaleva was dubbed the "golden judge" after a scandal broke out in 2017 after a video from her daughter's wedding with an employee of the Department of the Investigative Committee for the Krasnodar Territory appeared online. The festive event was attended by pop stars, including Valery Meladze and Nikolai Baskov. The holiday cost two million dollars.