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Makhachkala mayor facing life imprisonment

Тhe mayor, who was arrested last Sunday, is accused of masterminding the murder of a district investigator whom he did not even know

MOSCOW, June 4 (Itar-Tass) - Investigators intend to bring charges against Makachkala mayor Said Amirov on Tuesday. The mayor, who was arrested last Sunday, is accused of masterminding the murder of a district investigator whom he did not even know.

The Investigative Committee intends to charge the influential Makhachkala mayor under Article 295 of Russia's penal code /attempted murder of person administering justice or preliminary investigation; it is punished by up to life imprisonment/, the Kommersant reports. According to the investigators, Amirov masterminded the murder of acting director of the investigation department for Makhachkala's Sovestky district Arsen Gadzhibekov in Kaspiisk in December 2011.

Sources close to the investigators told the newspaper that the mayor and the investigator had never met each other, and that the probes Gadzhibekov had handled had not affected Amirov's interests. In one probe, however, Gadzhibekov's subordinates searched the offices of several district officials who were close to the mayor.

The Kommersant sources said the officials had reported the incident to Said Amirov, and the latter's reaction was "quite painful," as he regarded himself the master of the town. At first, he tried to use administrative leverage to resolve the issue, but when he failed to come to terms with SK officials, he charged his nephew, deputy mayor of Kaspiisk Yusup Dzhaparov, with the task to settle the problem.

Dzhaparov sought to enlist the assistance of his friend Magomed Abdulgalimov, a former aide to the Kizlyar prosecutor who was known in the criminal underworld by the nickname Kolkhoznik /"farmer"/.

However, Kolkhoznik agreed to help only after Amirov's personal request by telephone. Lt-Col Gadzhibekov was gunned down in Kaspiisk when he was returning home from work.

Police arrested members of Kolkhoznik's gang in autumn 2012 - spring 2013. His gang included police officers. Investigators said the gangsters were involved in a dozen of murders and assassination attempts.

The situation in Makhachkala is fully under control, Dagestan's authorities said in a statement on Monday. There are no spontaneous protests in the Dagestani capital, but police are on alert "to prevent possible destructive actions."

Meanwhile, the anticorruption campaign in Dagestan is gaining momentum, the Moskovsky Komsomolets notes. Dagestani prosecutors endorsed the indictment against Kaspiisk mayor Khuri Pirsaidova. She is accused of five-million-rouble fraud. Amirov's sons - Dalgat who heads the republic's department of the Federal Bailiff Service /FSSP/ and Magomed who is chairman of the committee for legislation and state development under the republic's parliament - promptly went on vacation."

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