By Dan Grennan
Copyright dailystar
A multi-millionaire Russian tycoon has mysteriously been found dead in a toilet after fleeing a court case. Boris Avakyan, who was married to a beauty queen, was discovered with “slit wrists” in the toilet of the Armenian consulate in St Petersburg. The 43-year-old had been implicated in a £37million fraud trial before he escaped to the consulate where he sought extradition to Armenia – where has a duel citizenship. During a break in the court proceedings, he asked to smoke outside – but then vanished in a car. Russian reports immediately said the wealthy ex-customs chief had taken his own life in a toilet in the consulate but this was strongly denied by two lawyers who knew him. The Armenian authorities did not confirm the Russian version of his death, and it was unknown where his body was following his death. Armenian diplomats also refused access to Russian officials seeking to examine and remove the body. Avakyan was also reported to be close to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – a figure with strained relations with Russia . Avakyan was married to professor’s daughter Yulia Ionina, 39, winner of the Mrs World 2014 beauty pageant, and the couple had two children. She also won the Mrs St Petersburg 2012 and Queen of the World 2014 titles. He earlier headed the customs brokerage of the Port of St. Petersburg before becoming deputy director of the Federal Agency for State Property Management’s directorate for the Leningrad region. He had access to “secrets” working for a body that previously employed Vladimir Putin . Boris Avakyan earlier avoided a court case after volunteering to fight for Putin in the war – but he then refused to travel to the conflict zone. Lawyers Konstantin Tarasenko and Natalya Chernikova questioned claims he had killed himself. Last week a top Russian executive from a military-linked chemical composites plant was found dead today from a gunshot wound. Alexander Tyunin, 50, headed a pioneering company with close links to Vladimir Putin’s war machine. Yet Russia has suffered a spate of deaths of leading managers of major companies during and immediately before the war in Ukraine . There have been repeated claims that at least some previous “suicides” in fact have been contract killings perhaps linked to business feuds. The Armenian authorities did not confirm the Russian version of his death, and it was unknown where his body was following his death. Armenian diplomats also refused access to Russian officials seeking to examine and remove the body. For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters .
