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Arrested Russian governor files protest — court

Nikita Belykh was detained in a Moscow restaurant on June 24 while allegedly taking a bribe

Kirov Region Governor Nikita Belykh Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

Kirov Region Governor Nikita Belykh

© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

MOSCOW, June 27. /TASS/. Kirov Region Governor Nikita Belykh, suspected of taking a bribe and remanded in custody, has filed a protest against his arrest.

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"The court has received an appeal from lawyer S. M. Teterin against the Basmanny court’s ruling Belykh should be remanded in custody till August 24," the court’s spokeswoman Yunona Tsaryova said adding that the Moscow City Court had not yet set a date for considering the appeal.

In the meantime, as Belykh’s other lawyer, Vadim Prokhorov, told TASS his client had rejected the services of Sergey Teterin, the lawyer the investigation had provided.

Belykh was detained in a Moscow restaurant on June 24 while allegedly taking a bribe. The investigators say that Belykh had received personally and through a mediator a total of €400,000. In exchange he promised patronage to two local businesses - a ski factory and a forest management company.

The Investigative Committee formally charged Belykh with a large bribe under part 6 of article 290 of the Russian Criminal Code. On June 25 Moscow’s Basmanny Court arrested Belykh for two months.

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