MOSCOW, June 17 (RAPSI) – Russian business ombudsman Boris Titov has requested penitentiary authorities to check the fact of placing two businessmen charged with fraud in one detention cell with a man earlier convicted of murder, the ombudsman’s press service reports.

These circumstances contradict the law on detention of persons suspected and accused of committing crimes and can create conditions for undue influence on the entrepreneurs during the investigation, according to Titov’s letter addressed to

Director of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) Gennady Kornienko.

Earlier, Titov received an application from ex-CEO of the Lipetsk machine-tool builder Vladimir Petrov, who stands charged with fraud, concerning the said matter. The inspection of a Moscow detention center, where the applicant was placed, revealed that Petrov and one more businessman charged with fraud and organizing a gang are held in one detention cell with a man currently charged with robbery that led to a victim’s injury and previously convicted of murder, the press-service’s statement reads.