Court extends Belykh's arrest until June 24
MOSCOW. March 22 (Interfax) - Moscow's Basmanny District Court has extended for three months the arrest of former Kirov region governor Nikita Belykh accused of bribe-taking.
"A motion of investigators should be upheld. The court ruled to extend the period of Belykh's arrest for three months, until June 24," Judge Yulia Safina said in a ruling.
Another bribery case was opened against Belykh in March, an investigator said at the court. "Belykh was indicted on March 17, both cases were joined in one proceedings. Belykh was questioned and pleaded not guilty on both counts," the investigator said.
The period of the investigation was also extended until June 24 and a psychological forensic evaluation needs to be carried out in the case, the investigator said.
Belykh and his lawyers, in turn, requested to place him under the house arrest.
Belykh was detained in a Moscow restaurant on June 2016. The court sanctioned his arrest at the investigator's motion the next day.
The former governor was charged with accepting a bribe on a large scale.
According to the investigation, Belykh received bribes totaling 400,000 euros personally and through a mediator for actions in favor of the bribe-giver and the Novovyatsky Ski Combine and Forestry Management Company controlled by him, and also for the Kirov regional administration's general patronage and connivance in supervising the implementation of investment projects by enterprises and other business activities in the Kirov region.
A freezing order was issued as an interim measure as part of the criminal case on the ex-governor's following property: two apartments in Perm, a 2011 Nissan car and bank accounts with the remainder of money in the amount of 400,000 rubles. Belykh pleaded not guilty. On July 28, 2016, the president dismissed him from the post of the Kirov region governor due to the loss of trust.
It was reported in January 2017 that Belykh was transferred from Moscow's Lefortovo pre-trial detention facility to the remand prison No. 1, known as the 'Matrosskaya Tishina', to undergo a medical examination. His defense team repeatedly said that his health was deteriorating. Following the examination, Belykh was brought back to Lefortovo; a treatment was prescribed to him. Nevertheless, despite the fact that he is taking medication, the ex-governor's legal team said that his condition is worsening further. On Wednesday, Belykh arrived at the courtroom, leaning on a cane.