Defence declares innocence of Makhachkala Mayor

Musa Musaev, the Makhachkala Mayor, did not exceed his powers at allocating the land plot; the case against him was instituted without due grounds, said Suleiman Azuev, his advocate.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 19, Musa Musaev was detained on suspicion of exceeding his official powers. Investigators assume that the Mayor damaged the Dagestani budget by about 80 million roubles, when allocating a land plot to a commercial company.

The criminal case was instituted without due grounds, because the plot allocated by Musaev was not republican property, the lawyer Suleiman Azuev has stated today, explaining that some production facilities are located in this land plot; and now it has been given to the owner of the facilities. This person became the owner of the facilities located in this land plot long ago; and the provision of this land plot to him is dictated by law," said the lawyer.

According to his story, the defence has already submitted proofs of Musaev's innocence to investigators. Azuev has expressed his intention to appeal against the very decision to institute a criminal case, the TASS reports.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.