YEKATERINBURG, July 4 (Itar-Tass) - A pre-investigation checked has been launched in the Sverdlovsk region into the death of an inmate convicted in the Nevsky Express train blast case in 2009.
"The investigators have already ascertained that Tatarkhan Kartoyev's death occurred as a result of an illness," senior aide to the director of the regional department of the Investigative Committee Alexander Shulga told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
Earlier, media reports said there were bruises on Kartoyev's body. He had been serving his sentence in the Sverdlovsk region.
"The forensic examination is not over yet. But experts said it's not bruises but death spots, which might look like signs of battery.
"Kartoyev's body was tied per regulations pending rigor mortis. Apparently these are signs of rope that are seen on hands and feet," the official said.
Kartoyev, 40, died in the evening of June 29 in an IT ward of prison # 2 hospital in Yekaterinburg. A pre-investigation check was launched into his death.
On May 22, 2012, the Tver region court sentenced ten suspects in the case to seven years in jail to life imprisonment.
Zelimkhan Aushev, Bislan, Murad and Tatarkhan Kartoyev were jailed for life, and the other six Kartoyevs were sentenced to seven to year years in prison. The court met the 150-million-rouble damages suit to the injured parties, of which 133 million roubles are due to Russian Railways.
Moscow-St Petersburg fast train # 166 was blasted on the Alyoshinka-Uglovka stretch on the border between the Novgorod and Tver regions on November 27, 2009. The act of terror claimed 27 lives, and another 150 persons were injured.
The investigators said the defendants had joined an illegal paramilitary formation which was part of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization and participated in the activities of the gang led by Alexander Tikhomirov /also known as Said Buryatsky/. They illegally kept firearms, ammunition and explosives. It was Tikhomirov who planned the Nevsky Express blast. On November 22, 2009, the defendants came to the village of Lykoshino, Tver region, and planted two homemade bombs on the tracks of the Oktyabrskaya Railway, which detonated as the train was passing.
The Nevsky Express was blasted twice. On August 13, 2007, 60 passengers were injured in an explosion. Two Ingushetia residents were convicted within the first train blast case - Salambek Dzakhkiyev and Maksharip Khidriyev. The court cleared them of direct involvement though. They were sentenced to ten and four years, respectively, for illegal keeping of explosives. Dzakhkiyev's sentence was cumulative as he had also been found guilty of fraud.