Kulisheva Irina Vladimirovna is a Nizhny Novgorod attorney and a member of Law Office No. 25. Before joining the bar, she worked for more than 20 years in the prosecutor's office of Nizhny Novgorod Region, in the state prosecutors' department of the criminal court division.[1] She specializes in corruption-related criminal cases and in cases tried by a jury.[1] She is a postgraduate student at the Faculty of Law of Lobachevsky University, specializing in "legal psychology."[1]
The Case of Coach Nikolay Kukushkin
Kulisheva became widely known as the defense attorney of the Nizhny Novgorod hand-to-hand combat coach Nikolay Kukushkin, who was charged with the premeditated murder of Rosgvardia officer Mikhail Rashoyan during a nighttime brawl on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya on May 16, 2021.[2] The case was heard by juries several times: the first panel unanimously acquitted Kukushkin in the fall of 2022, but in 2023 that verdict was overturned by the appellate court.[2] In March 2026, a fourth jury panel again returned a not-guilty verdict.[2]
After the second acquittal, the court imposed a travel restriction on Kukushkin (a written pledge not to leave the area). Kulisheva publicly called the situation absurd.[3] The hearing on the prosecutor's office's appeal against the second acquittal was scheduled for September 24, 2026, but the session did not take place: Kulisheva fell ill, and at Kukushkin's request the hearing was postponed to October 5, 2026.[3][2]
Sources
- advokatnn25.ru — Kulisheva Irina Vladimirovna — Law Office No. 25 (archive)
- Otkrytyy Nizhny — Nizhny Novgorod Coach Kukushkin Acquitted Twice by Juries. Why Is He Being Tried — Incidents
- Govorit Nizhny — About 50 People Came to Court to Support Children's Coach Nikolay Kukushkin
Materials Used from Articles (1)
Postponement of the Appeal Hearing on the Acquittal of Coach Nikolay Kukushkin (2026)