The Cassation Court upheld the acquittal of a farmer from Kabardino-Balkaria.
The Fifth Cassation Court in Pyatigorsk upheld the acquittal of Tamara Erzhibova, head of the Majesty agricultural enterprise, who was accused of fraud after delivering corn to the Prokhladny grain receiving facility.
As reported by the Caucasian Knot, the court acquitted Tamara Erzhibova, head of the Majesty agricultural enterprise, of fraud after delivering corn to the Prokhladny grain receiving facility. The Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria upheld Erzhibova's acquittal, but the director of the grain receiving facility appealed it to the Fifth Cassation Court in Pyatigorsk.
In March 2021, the Arbitration Court of Kabardino-Balkaria ruled that the Prokhladnensky Grain Receiving Enterprise must compensate the agricultural enterprise Majesty 24 million rubles for spoiled corn seeds. This amount included the cost of the spoiled corn seeds, amounting to approximately 19 million rubles, and interest for the use of other people's money, amounting to 5 million rubles. In August of that year, the appellate court overturned the decision to compensate for damages. Having proven her innocence in the criminal case, in August 2025, the head of Majesty asked the 16th Arbitration Court of Appeal to reconsider the ruling denying compensation for damages due to newly discovered circumstances. However, on December 2, 2025, the same panel of judges again ruled against her.
On January 29, the Fifth Cassation Court in Pyatigorsk heard the appeal of Vladimir Semenova, director of the Prokhladnensky Grain Receiving Plant, against the acquittal of Tamara Erzhibova. Semenov demanded that the verdict be overturned and the case remanded for a new trial.
The Prokhladnensky District Prosecutor's Office, which had previously supported the charges against Erzhibova, filed objections to the appeal of the PKhPP director with the Fifth Court of Cassation, demanding that the acquittal be upheld and the appeal dismissed, an informed source told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. The Cassation Court ultimately rejected Semenov's appeal and upheld the Majesty director's sentence.
Erzhibova's defense intends to appeal the decision of the 16th Arbitration Court of Appeal, which in December ignored her acquittal and again ruled against her for damages. The complaint will be filed with the Arbitration Court of the North Caucasus District.
"The direct damages amount to over 50 million rubles. Nine years of struggle have undermined my health. The acquittal should have been the end of it. But instead, it merely served as proof of a profound crisis, where one court can ignore another's decision with impunity. The very foundation of the legal system—the principle of the binding nature of judicial decisions—is crumbling," Erzhibova previously told the "Caucasian Knot."
The "Caucasian Knot" reported that the legal battle between the agricultural enterprise "Majesty" and PKhPP had been ongoing since 2017. Majesty LLC stated in its lawsuit that in 2016, it delivered 545 tons of seed corn worth over 30 million rubles to Prokhladnenskoye Grain Receiving Enterprise LLC, having previously entered into a processing agreement. After processing, the seeds proved unusable. As a result of the multi-million ruble damage, the agricultural enterprise's property was seized due to debts, and employees had to pay their salaries with borrowed funds.
Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/420356