Akhat Bragin

Akhat (Alexander) Khafizovich (Sergeevich) Bragin (Ukrainian: Ахать (Олександр) Хафізович (Сергійович) Брагін, Russian: Ахать (Александр) Хафизович (Сергеевич) Брагин, Tatar: Cyrillic Әхәт (Александр) Хафиз улы Брагин, Latin Äkät (Alexandr) Khafiz uly Bragin; 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 Raion 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: Dilyara (1985—2009) and Ravil (b. 1989).

Assassination and attempts[]

An attempt to kill Bragin took place on 19 March 1994 at a settlement called 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] Miraculously Akhat Bragin survived the attempt.

Akhat Bragin died in a bomb attack on Sunday 15 October 1995 at the Shakhtar Stadium in Donetsk. After this event, the new president and chairman of Shaktar Donetsk became Rinat Akhmetov. 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.

References[]

External links[]

[1] The Irish Times - Battle of the oligarchs

[2] Kyiv Post - Akhat Bragin

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