MOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow's City Court upheld Monday the arrest of a suspected accomplice in the murder of Russian Central Bank deputy chief Andrei Kozlov.
Liana Askerova, a restaurant owner, is believed to be a link between the paymaster in the September 13 shooting of Kozlov, who led a crusade against money laundering and other criminal practices in the banking sector, and the contract killers. She was arrested in mid-January.
Askerova is said to have identified a commercial banker, Alexei Frenkel, as the mastermind of Kozlov's assassination.
Frenkel's bank was among those closed down by Kozlov as part of his efforts to clean Russia's financial sector of corruption.
Askerova's defense lawyer, Nikolai Klen, said he would appeal.
"The fact the Basmanny court's decision has been upheld by the appeals court comes as no surprise - given the public resonance of the case - but we believe she is being held in custody unlawfully."
Frenkel's lawyer, Lyudmila Aivar, said the Prosecutor General's Office extended the investigation into the Kozlov murder through May 16.
