"[Bilikhmanov's] condition has stabilized and is improving," said Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, the speaker of the lower chamber of the newly elected Chechen parliament, which convened for its first session on December 12. "Although Bilimkhanov is still in intensive care, the doctors are optimistic."
The speaker himself dismissed suggestions that the four-vehicle car crash, which happened early Saturday morning in the east of the North Caucasus republic, was anything other than an accident. "Everyone involved in the accident was a civil servant," Abdurakhmanov said. "And any version of premeditated acts in this case, in my view, can be ruled out."
Bilikhmanov is the second senior official from Chechnya to be hospitalized recently after a car crash. In late November, the car in which Prime Minister Sergei Abramov was traveling collided with a truck near Moscow. The premier is now making a good recovery after surgery.
