MOSCOW, June 2 (RIA Novosti) – A Moscow Court has sanctioned a two-month arrest of the mayor of Dagestan's capital Makhachkala, Said Amirov, who was detained on suspicion of having organized a murder of a Russian investigator, a court spokeswoman said on Sunday.
“The materials on Amirov were received yesterday and the court has just satisfied the investigators’ request and placed Amirov under a two-month arrest,” Natalia Romanova said.
Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told RIA Novosti that official charges would be brought against Amirov within ten days.
Earlier on Saturday, a police source told RIA Novosti that security forces had blocked the mayor’s house and nearby streets and a helicopter was used in an operation to detain Amirov. Amirov was convoyed to Moscow on the day of his detention. More than 10 suspected Amirov’s accomplices were also detained.
A police source said the detention came after a gunman, who was held in Makhachkala on Friday, told investigators about his links to the mayor.
The Investigative Committee said on Saturday that a criminal case had been opened against Amirov in connection with the December 2011 killing of investigator Arsen Gadzhibekov in Dagestan’s Kaspiysk.
Gadzhibekov, chief of the investigation department of Makhachkala's Sovetsky District, was shot dead near his house in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Dagestan as he was leaving his car. He had participated in solving a number of crimes, including the 2010 terror attack in Kizlyar that killed 10 and injured 270 others.
Amirov, 59, a long-term member of the ruling United Russia party, won the title of Russia’s best mayor at a contest in late April, Makhachkala’s administration’s site said.
