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Moscow court sanctions rape case suspect's arrest

Athlete Alexander Yemelyanenko will remain in custody until June 30

MOSCOW, May 10, /ITAR-TASS/. A Moscow district court on Saturday sanctioned the arrest of mixed martial arts exponent Alexander Yemelyanenko, a rape case suspect.

A judge of the Simonovsky court said he had granted the investigator's request for Yemelyanenko's custody after examining the parties' arguments and the materials attached to the case.

Yemelyanenko will remain in custody until June 30.

The defendant, if at large, might escape the investigator or put pressure on witnesses and the victim because he knows her whereabouts, the judge said announcing the ruling.

He added that Yemelyanenko had been on the wanted list until May 9. According to the investigator, the athlete's temporary registration has expired and he had no information about his valid registration in Russia.

Yemelyanenko denied fleeing justice. "I did not hide anywhere; I went to Ukraine where my grandfather had recently died. I lost my documents and went to have them re-issued," he said.

His lawyer said that his client "reported to the investigator in early April as requested. "When they came to the investigation department, the guards told us the investigator could not be reached by phone, so we left, because we are not supposed to wait for the investigator all day," the lawyer said.

Yemelyanenko and his lawyer asked the court to select house arrest as the measure of restraint.

Earlier on Saturday, the Investigative Committee reported that Yemelyanenko had been questioned as a rape case suspect and charged.

"Yemelyanenko is accused of indecent assault of a woman who was a cleaner at his apartment, overnight to March 3, and of stealing the victim's passport," an SK official said.

On May 9, Yemelyanenko was detained in Tambov, Russia, after causing a car crash, and convoyed to Moscow.

Regional road police spokesman Vadim Rybkin said Yemelyanenko, driving along Stepan Razin Street toward central Tambov, lost control of his Opel Astra and hit a lamp post which collapsed on the car, injuring his passenger.

The passenger was taken to hospital with a broken leg.

Yemelyanenko refused a breathalyzer test and would not be calmed down. However, the police called to the scene did not use force against him. He was eventually talked into going to a district police station where Moscow police later collected him to convoy to the Russian capital.

It is not the first rape allegation against Yemelyanenko.

In August 2013, police checked a report by a 23-year-old woman who claimed Yemelyanenko had raped her in a Moscow apartment. Police questioned Yemelyanenko and inspected the alleged rape scene, but brought no charges as the woman had withdrawn her claim.

In early 2014, a criminal case was opened against Yemelyanenko over punching an elderly man in a Moscow cafe. The parties later settled the matter amicably.

Yemelyanenko, 32, is a multiple world and Russian mixed fighting champion.