Arrest of notary Sadretdinov acquitted on Khlebnikov's case declared legitimate

The Moscow city court recognized as legitimate the issue of a sanction for arresting Fail Sadretdinov, Moscow notary acquitted on the case of murder of Paul Khlebnikov, chief editor of the Forbes magazine Russian version. "The decision of Zamoskvoretsk district court of Moscow of May 12, 2006, whereby accused Sadretdinov is to be taken into custody as a measure of restraint, shall be left unchanged, while the cassation complaint shall be declined," stated the judge while announcing the court decision, "Novosti" news agency reports.

For reference, the Moscow prosecutor's office earlier accused of fraud Fail Sadretdinov, Moscow notary acquitted on the case of murder of Paul Khlebnikov, chief editor of the Forbes magazine Russian version.

"These are absolutely far-fetched charges - a genuine revenge on the part of the General Prosecutor's Office for the lost case," -lawyer Ruslan Koblev stated earlier. The case is about one fact of fraud with a flat which allegedly took place in 2002 and was committed against a diseased woman who was a Russian citizen. According to Koblev, the new criminal case was initiated by the prosecutor's office on May 6, the day the ruling on Khlebnikov's murder was announced.

"The investigators knew that the three defendants had been acquitted and invented a new case in order to place Sadretdinov under custody," - says the lawyer. According to him, Sadretdinov's official retrieval on the new case was announced on May 10, while on May 11 he was detained at the notary office where he showed up to work.

Earlier, the Moscow city court acquitted the three persons accused on the case. The General Prosecutor's Office announced that it intended to appeal the acquittal.

Khlebnikov was murdered in Moscow on July 9, 2004. Two Chechens, Musa Vakhaev and Kazbek Dukuzov, and Fail Sadretdinov, Moscow notary, were accused of the murder. According to the investigation opinion, the journalist was murdered by an organized criminal group which included Chechen residents Dukuzov, his brother Magomed Dukuzov, Vakhaev, Magomed Edilsultanov and others. The investigation also claimed that it had established the customer of Khlebnikov's murder - it was Khozh-Akhmed Nuhaev, Chechen resident.