A prominent lawyer, Marat Khabibulin, long associated with high-profile cases, has died in a road incident near Lugansk. The news was confirmed by Olga Bukhanovskaya, a former colleague who now serves as the chief physician at the Phoenix Treatment and Rehabilitation Scientific Center. The information was reported by TASS, the Russian news agency.
According to Bukhanovskaya, the notification came at 17:15 Moscow time when investigators informed the team of the tragedy. She noted that the exact cause of the death remained unclear at the time, with questions whether the incident resulted from a road accident or an underlying health issue. Khabibulin was traveling back to Rostov-on-Don from the Lugansk region when the fatal event occurred.
The scientific and medical community, along with the Rostov Region Bar Association, pledged to oversee a dignified farewell for Khabibulin, ensuring that the funeral arrangements reflect the stature of a professional who spent decades in service to the legal field.
During his career, Khabibulin represented the interests of Andrei Chikatilo in court. Chikatilo, known for a series of brutal murders that occurred between 1978 and 1990, became one of the most infamous criminal cases in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. The trial began in mid-April 1992, with courtroom proceedings that captured national attention. Chikatilo was ultimately executed on February 14, 1994, a date that coincided with the anniversary of Rostov-on-Don’s liberation during World War II.
Other notable cases in the region occasionally surface in retrospectives, underscoring the varied paths within a legal career that intersected with serious criminal matters and complex investigations.