Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika has canceled the order to fire top Moscow investigator Anatoly Bagmet and instructed Alexander Bastrykin, Chaika's first deputy, to decide on Bagmet's further duties.
Chaika and Bastrykin reportedly belong to two opposing positions. Bastrykin earlier promoted Bagmet's candidacy for the post of the top Moscow investigator, and Bagmet was appointed to the post in May 2008. On Friday media reported he was dismissed.
"Chaika deemed it expedient to cancel the order and instruct Investigative Committee chairman Alexander Bastrykin to consider the issue of Bagmet occupying the post..., as well as take measures to stop violations of the federal law 'On the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation,'" the Prosecutor General's Office spokeswoman, Marina Gridneva, said Monday.
Bagmet was first fired from the post of deputy prosecutor of the Chelybinsk Region in December 2007, when it became known that he had illegally received the title of assistant professor in Chelyabinsk State University in the south Urals and illegally received additional payments for teaching activities.
Bagmet then appealed this ruling, and two Moscow courts restored Bagmet at his post saying he was not to blame for a mix-up in the documents on an academic degree. Bagmet then resigned from the post in Chelyabinsk.
Later the Prosecutor General's Office appealed the Moscow courts' rulings in the Supreme Court, and in March 2009, the Supreme Court ruled that Bagmet should not have been restored at his Chelyabinsk post, saying the Moscow courts' rulings were illegal. Bagmet said he would appeal the ruling in the Supreme Court Presidium.
Bagmet told RIA Novosti Monday that he would not comment on the situation. Neither was he aware of any reaction from Bastrykin.
A source in the prosecutor's office told Russian business daily Vedomosti that Chaika, instead of directly firing Bagmet, decided to instruct his first deputy Bastrykin to deal with Bagmet's situation. Should Bastrykin fail to dismiss Bagmet, people could think he was covering for Bagmet who violated the prosecutor's oath, Vedomosti wrote Monday.
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti)
