In Astrakhan Region, court upholds detention of MP Kolachevsky's daughter

On May 10, in Astrakhan, the Kirov District Court granted the motion of the FSB Department for extension of period of detention in SIZO (pre-trial prison) of Natalia Kolachevskaya, who was suspected of fraud, till July 16.

According to lawyer of the defendant, during four years already, Natalia Kolachevskaya suffers from epilepsy in a very severe form. In her turn, physician Latifa Butasheva has stated that Natalia Kolachevskaya's brain reveals abnormalities and that the disease progresses.

Throughout the last two years, Natalia Kolachevskaya took a sick leave only once and not in connection with epilepsy. This testimony of one of Natalia Kolachevskaya's colleagues was read out by a representative of the prosecution.

The prosecutors insisted that Natalia Kolachevskaya should be left in custody, since she tried to escape and go to Volgograd after the initiation of the criminal case against her in December 2011. The protocol of her detention at night on January 16-17, 2012, on the highway near the village of Enotaevka was presented to as evidence.

As a result, the court saw no need to change pre-trial restriction measure for Natalia Kolachevskaya. Then, she is to remain at the SIZO till July 16.

According to investigators, the Limited Liability Company, owned by Natalia Kolachevskaya, leased from the Astrakhan City Mayoralty a land plot at the intersection of N. Ostrovsky and Magnitogorskaya Streets. The area of the leased land plot was 45.5 thousand square meters, and its cadastral value amounted to 505 million roubles.

The entrepreneur has taken the land plot under the pretext of building children's park for recreation and child development centre.

According to the prosecutors, later, Natalia Kolachevskaya informed the Mayoralty that 10 non-residential buildings were constructed on the site (each of them of about 30-70 square meters, representing various children's facilities, etc., and a cash office), and that she wanted to privatize the land plot.

According to the investigators, the land plot was purchased at a rate of 0.3 percent of the cadastral value of the land plot 15.2 million roubles.

Meanwhile, according to the investigators, no buildings had been erected on the land plot, the "Punkt A" reports.

Natalia Kolachevskaya does not admit her guilt.

"I believe that the events happening now in the Astrakhan Region represent an absolute outrage, backed by power agents and regional authorities," said Alexander Kolachevsky, the defendant's father. According to him, the investigatory authorities ignore the instructions of the Russian President about inadmissibility of keeping in custody persons accused of committing economic crimes.

"Moreover, the investigators still cannot prove the fact of the very crime," the "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" quotes Mr Kolachevsky as saying.