Farkhad Akhmedov’s rejected claims of a Russian divorce
Summary
Farkhad has repeatedly claimed that a Russian divorce had already been granted to him and Tatiana in Moscow on 18th August 2000. That claim has been rejected by English and by successive Russian courts.
Background
Farkhad initially applied to strike out Tatiana’s petition on the grounds that the marriage had already been dissolved by a Russian decree granted in the Moscow court on 18th August 2000. However, a search by Tatiana’s lawyers of the official records in the Moscow court revealed that no such divorce proceedings existed. This was confirmed during the 2016 UK divorce proceedings in a Civil Evidence Act notice statement of a Moscow lawyer, that was served by Tatiana in support of her financial claim.
Ultimately, in a letter from his solicitors to the English High Court dated 18 June 2015, he withdrew this application and submitted to the English jurisdiction.
Source: judgment of Mr Justice Haddon-Cave dated 15 December 2015 at [2], [40]
During the proceeding before the English court in 2016, Farkhad also withdrew his reliance on any 2000 Moscow divorce, accepting that it was not valid.
Treatment by the English and Russian courts
England: In the English divorce proceedings, Mr Justice Haddon-Cave considered the facts and concluded:
“The inference to be drawn, therefore, is that the 2000 Moscow divorce documents relied upon by the Husband were, at all material times, forged.”
Source: judgment of Mr Justice Haddon-Cave dated 15 December 2015 at para 40
Russia: In 2018, Farkhad tried again to seek recognition of the alleged Russian divorce, this time making an application to restore legal documents that he now claimed had been lost.
Farkhad applied to Zyuzinsky District Court of Moscow with a petition seeking to restore “lost” civil proceedings in which an order had been made to dissolve the marriage between Farkhad and Tatiana (No. 2-1767/2000).
However, in July 2018, the Zyuzinsky District Court of Moscow dismissed the claim, finding that Farkhad had failed to submit sufficient and credible evidence for an accurate restoration of the court order relating to the lost proceedings.
Since the Order of the Zyuzinsky Court dated 4 July 2018, Farkhad has brought at least four cassation appeals in Russia seeking to overturn the order. Each has been unsuccessful.
On 16 September 2019, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation notified Farkhad that under Chapter 41 of the relevant Civil Procedure Code there was no possibility of further appeals in this matter.
On 8 July 2020, the First General Court of Appeal (in Tatiana’s enforcement proceedings) recognised that:
The applicant T.M. Akhmedov and the debtor F.T. Akhmedov were in a registered marriage. The marriage was dissolved by decision of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales on 15 December 2016. At the same time, the same judgement divided the property acquired between the spouses in the marriage. The judgement is final and came into force by order of 20 December 2016 of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales.