Akhat Bragin

Ukrainian businessman (1953–1995)

Akhat (Alexander) Khafizovich (Sergeevich) Bragin (Ukrainian: Ахать (Олександр) Хафізович (Сергійович) Брагін, Russian: Ахать (Александр) Хафизович (Сергеевич) Брагин, Tatar: Әхәт (Александр) Хафиз улы Брагин; 1953 — 15 October 1995) was a Ukrainian businessman of Volga Tatar descent. He was a mafia figure of the Donetsk Oblast and later the president of the football club Shakhtar Donetsk until his death.

Biography

Akhat Hafizovich Bragin was born in 1953 in the Kuibyshevskyi District of Donetsk city, Ukrainian SSR. Before he became the president of Shakhtar Donetsk, he was also a butcher at a local market in Oktyabrsky Raion.

Education

Donetsk Soviet Trade Institute (today Donetsk National University of Economy and Trade), dropped out.

Convictions

  • 24 November 1971 – convicted (the Criminal Code of Ukraine) by the Kuibyshev District Court of Donetsk to a conditional year of imprisonment with correctional term of 2 years without confiscation of property

Personal life

Bragin had a wife and two children.[citation needed]

Assassination and attempts

An attempt to kill Bragin took place on 19 March 1994 at Pisky (Bragin's hometown). Pisky, Yasynuvata Raion is a rural settlement of Yasynuvata Raion, just to the west from the Donetsk International Airport. A group of bandits from the Ryabin-Kushnir gang (run by Yevhen Kushnir and Anatoliy Ryabi) opened fire on Bragin's pigeon coop while Bragin was visiting his birds.[1] Bragin survived the attempt.

Bragin died in a bomb attack on Sunday 15 October 1995 at the Shakhtar Stadium in Donetsk. After this event, Rinat Akhmetov became president and chairman of Shaktar Donetsk. The reason for Akhat's murder was his business dealings. Known in the criminal underworld as 'Alik the Greek', his organization got into conflicts with several others. The investigation into his death made little progress until the confession of a rival gangster, which led to the arrest and imprisonment of former policeman Vyacheslav Synenko.[2]

Legacy

In honor of Akhat Bragin, the mosque of Donetsk is called Ahat Jami.

See also

  • List of unsolved murders
  • Yevhen Shcherban

References

  1. ^ "Battle of the oligarchs". The Irish Times.
  2. ^ "Akhat Bragin - Dec. 10, 2008". Kyiv Post. December 10, 2008.

External links

  • Criminal Donetsk: a travel guide of the most notorious criminal locations of the city in the 90s
  • Donetsk mafia
  • Attempted on Rinat Akhmetov. True Story of the oligarch
  • The name of Bragin is still remembered in Donetsk
  • Akhat Bragin on the website genshtab
  • Donetsk Wars. Episode 1. "Panorama weekly". 2002-06-12.