The glamorous lover of Russia’s ‘Sausage King’ has passed a lie detector test on live TV in an attempt to prove that she did not order the gruesome murder of her partner.
Sabina Gaziyeva, 36, who was naked in a sauna with 54-year-old Vladimir Marugov when he was shot dead with a crossbow in November last year, has recounted her version of events to a Russian talk show while hooked up to a polygraph machine.
Experts analysing the results of the test revealed that, while Gaziyeva had lied about some aspects of her husband’s business, she did not know the attackers who stormed the building or that the assault was about to take place.
Sabina Gaziyeva (right), the partner of murdered Russian ‘Sausage King’ Vladimir Marugov (left), has passed a lie detector test on live TV while insisting she did not order his killing
Marugov bled to death in the garden sauna of his Moscow mansion last year after being shot with a crossbow during a ‘contract killing’
Marugov, who was dubbed the ‘Sausage King’ due to his ownership of some of Russia’s largest meat factories, was killed at his Moscow mansion on November 2.
The multi-millionaire, who had two young children with Gaziyeva, was shot with a crossbow and then left to bleed to death while she escaped to raise the alarm.
Marugov also had one child, a son named Alexander, with ex-wife Tatyana Marugova, but he died in a motorbike accident in 2019.
Police have since arrested the alleged attackers – one of whom has been named as Greek-born Alexander Mavridi – but have yet to identify the ‘mastermind’ who ordered the hit.
Suspicion immediately fell on Gaziyeva who was named ‘suspect number one’ by Russia media, which pointed out that her account of the attack was inconsistent.
It was not clear how Gaziyeva had managed to escape over a 6ft fence and then call emergency services while naked and with her hands tied, newspapers argued.
It was also unclear how the attackers knew that the couple would be in the garden sauna on the night of the attack, instead of in the main house.
Four months after the attack, Gaziyeva submitted to the lie detector in an attempt to prove her innocence.
Police have yet to identify the ‘mastermind’ who ordered the hit, with suspicion falling heavily on Gaziyeva after she managed to escape her captors and inform police
Police say one of the killers was Greek-born Alexander Mavridi, 46 (left and right), who has connections to Marugov’s ex-wife Tatyana Marugova
Recalling her experience to the Na Samom Dele talk show on Russia’s Channel One, she told how two mask-wearing intruders ‘stormed’ the sauna building.
She said that Marugov attempted to protect her as the assailants began to beat her.
‘He shouted at them to get their hands off me,’ she said.
Gaziyeva said it is ‘odd’ that Marugova (pictured) and Mavridi know each other
‘I had many thoughts rushing through my head at that second. I thought maybe these were workers who had seen me naked and wanted something.
‘That was the only thought – they wanted to rape me. They dragged Vladimir away from me.’
She said: ‘I begged them not to kill us, because we have small children.
‘He was punching me in my head but I did not feel pain, perhaps, because of adrenaline.
‘When they saw I was not giving up, they tied my wrists behind my back….
‘Then they tied a rope around my neck and my mouth….they bound my legs….
‘A big towel was wrapped around my head and the beating continued […] at some point I accepted death.
‘I lay on my side understanding that I will now be killed. My only thought was how my children will be without me.’
Gaziyeva said she eventually escaped through a window and hid in bushes, not wanting to go to the house because it might lead her attackers to her children.
Addressing the question of inheritance, which critics have suggested motivated the murder, Gaziyeva said many of her husband’s businesses were bankrupt.
Polygraph expert Roman Ustyuzhanin told her on TV that she had lied about ‘not knowing some murky details’ of her partner’s meat business which had been in financial difficulties when he died.
Tatyana (left) and Marugov (right) had one son during their marriage, Alexander, but he died in a motorbike accident in 2019 after they split up
A police image showing the inside of the murder suspects’ van which was found a short time after the killing, on November 2 last year
But he told her: ‘You did not know and did not expect the criminals to arrive, that is true.’
Separate reports say that alleged assailant Mavridi, 49, was a lover of the sausage millionaire’s ex-wife, poet Tatyana Marugova.
Gaziyeva said she is not able to explain what motivated the killing, but added that ‘it is very strange that these two people knew each other.’
‘There are 18 million people living in Moscow, and the fact that the suspected murderer knows his ex-wife amazes me,’ she added.
Marugova attended the funeral of her former spouse but has not commented on the case or her alleged romantic relationship with the suspect.
Marugova was earlier questioned by state investigators and released without charge.
Denying an affair, her lawyer said she was ‘a very open and talkative person’ who might have unintentionally revealed ‘nuances concerning her personal life’ to the suspect.