Suspects in MP Khudyakov attack turned over to Moscow Investigative Department - Interior Ministry
MOSCOW. July 11 (Interfax) - The persons detained on suspicion of attacking Russian Liberal Democratic Party parliamentarian Roman Khudyakov have been turned over to officers of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department, a spokesman for the Russian Interior Ministry's Moscow branch told Interfax.
"Volgograd police officers escorted the suspects on a flight to the capital and turned them over to detectives of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department," he said.
Volgograd region police spokesperson Svetlana Smolyaninova told Interfax on July 10 that four people accused of attacking Russian State Dma member Roman Khudyakov had been detained in the Gorodishchi district of the Volgograd region. The suspects were traveling in a Lexus car, which was stopped by police.
"The car with a license plate issued in Dagestan was carrying four people who, the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department believes, could be involved in the attack on parliamentarian Khudyakov," Smolyaninova said.
The detained men have already been identified as natives of Dagestan, a republic in Russia's North Caucasus, she said.
"Two non-lethal pistols adjusted to fire live ammunition, as well as 16 cartridges were confiscated from the car," she said.
One of the suspects had an ID card of a privately owned security firm's security guard, Smolyaninova said.
The detained men claim that they were heading to Dagestan.
"The policemen had to put handcuffs on two of the detained persons because they were behaving extremely aggressively, were shouting threats and even spat on the video camera the policemen used to film what was happening," the spokesperson said.
Police continue examining the car.
The Russian Investigative Committee told Interfax earlier that it had opened a criminal inquiry into the attack on Khudyakov.
Investigators have established that an unknown man driving a Toyota Land Cruiser sport utility vehicle performed a dangerous maneuver in front of Khudyakov's car at Berezhkovskaya Embankment on Wednesday evening.
"Having pressed Khudyakov's car to the roadside, the driver and passenger got out of the SUV and struck Khudyakov on the head with their hands many times without any obvious reason, simultaneously shouting obscenities," the committee said.
The parliamentarian was admitted to hospital with a concussion and other injuries.
The Russian Prosecutor General's Office is overseeing the investigation into the incident.
