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Court arrests suspect in crime, which caused unrest in southern Moscow

The murder of a Muscovite, Yegor Shcherbakov, by an Azeri migrant worker caused mass disorders at a vegetable storage in Western Birulevo

MOSCOW, October 18 (Itar-Tass World Service). — Moscow’s Presnya Court on Thursday issued a sanction for arrest of Orkhan Zeinalov, who comes from Azerbaijan, suspecting him of a hooliganism murder of a 26 year-old Muscovite, which caused ethnic mass unrest in southern Moscow. The events have emerged a certain tension in relations between Azerbaijan and Russia.

The detained was allowed to meet not only with a lawyer, but also with representatives of Azerbaijan’s embassy, Rossiiskaya Gazeta writes. During the court hearing, Zeinalov refused his own confession of murder, which he gave during the first interrogation.

The murder of a Muscovite, Yegor Shcherbakov, by an Azeri migrant worker caused mass disorders at a vegetable storage in Western Birulevo, and further on inspections of similar vegetable storages, markets, constructions sites, hostels, as well as a full-fledged investigation into reasons explaining the situation, the newspaper writes.

Novye Izvestia says flat owners, which Zeinalov had rented, helped to find him. Television news said the flat owner had identified the man on video recording from cameras and reported to the police, expecting to be paid $1 million for the information.

Kommersant says influential Azerbaijanis were promised problems with their businesses if they sheltered Zeinalov. They informed other countrymen, and the police received the information the suspect was in Ryazan planning to leave for Kolomna by his car.

Azerbaijan’s authorities reacted extremely negatively to the events, the newspaper writes. Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Moscow Polad Bul-bul Ogly claimed law enforcement authorities had managed to turn an ordinary crime into a show, which provoked in Russia anti-Azerbaijani hysteria. He promised a note of protest to Russia’s Foreign Ministry.

The Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Alexander Lukashevich called the ambassador’s claim far-fetched and groundless.