Court extends Rasul Mirzaev's arrest until May 17

The Presnya Court of Moscow has repeatedly addressed the issue of extension of the arrest of the sambo fighter Rasul Mirzaev, after whose punch the 19-year-old Muscovite Ivan Agafonov died, and decided to keep the athlete in custody until May 17.

Thus, the court has satisfied the motion of the prosecution to extend Mirzaev's arrest by three more months.

Mirzaev was brought to the court immediately after his charge was aggravated; and his advocate could not manage to come. The athlete was provided by an advocate by appointment, to which he objected. "It's not my lawyer, I have an agreement with Alexei Grebenskoy," the "Interfax" quotes the lawyer as saying.

The court rejected Mirzayev's arguments and would not listen to his challenge of the appointed advocate.

The lawyer Alexei Grebenskoy, who is representing Mirzaev's interests, said today that he knew nothing about the aggravation of the charge. "It is not clear what the grounds for re-qualification were," he said.

Agafonov's parents were not officially informed about the change of the charge. As explained by the victims' advocate Oksana Mikhalkina, they would be acquainted with the changes when summoned to investigatory actions. She treated the decision of the investigation to aggravate Mirzaev's charge as "lawful, reasonable and fair," the RAPSI quotes the lawyer as saying.