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One of attackers on lawmaker Roman Khudyakov suspected of extortion

A law-enforcement source said the suspect could be involved in the extortion of 30 million roubles from a Moscow businessman at the Yevropeisky shopping mall in March

MOSCOW, July 16 (Itar-Tass) - The Investigative Committee pooled the case over the attack on State Duma lawmaker Roman Khudyakov with the case over extortion of a large sum of money from a businessman at the Yevropeisky shopping mall, a lawyer told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

Zakarya Gadzhiyev and Artur Minbulatov are suspects in the lawmaker's attack case. Khudyakov identified them as his attackers. A law-enforcement source said the suspect could be involved in the extortion of 30 million roubles from a Moscow businessman at the Yevropeisky shopping mall in March. "The investigator believes that Zakarya Gadzhiyev is involved in the extortion, so two cases were pooled into one," Mikhail Fomin, a lawyer of one of the defendants, said.

"In March 2013, Gadzhiyev was receiving treatment in the Botkin hospital; he had problems with his back. There's a certificate confirming it," Fomin said.

In the evening of July 9, 2013, a Toyota Land Cruiser driver in Moscow's Berezhkovskaya Embankment, made a dangerous maneuver and forced Khudyakov's car to stop. The Toyota's driver and passengers got out, and using invectives, beat up the lawmaker and fled the scene.

Four suspects, all natives of Dagestan, were detained in Volgograd region at a road police post near the village of Gorodishche the next day and flown to Moscow. One of the detainees had a private guard certificate issued in Makhachkala, Dagestan. A search of the car found two non-lethal guns with 16 rounds of ammunition.

Criminal proceedings were opened under the penal code article on battery for hooligan motives and hooliganism. Khudyakov identified two of his attackers: driver Minbulatov and passenger Zakarya Gadzhiyev. Both were placed under arrest.

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