MOSCOW, July 6 (RAPSI) – The Moscow City Court on Wednesday denied a 28-million ruble (about $436,000) bail to Kirov region governor Nikita Belykh who stands charged with taking bribes, RAPSI reports from the courtroom.
Defense lawyers asked the court to release Belykh but their motion was dismissed. The accused will stay in detention until August 24.

Earlier, defense for Belykh claimed that the case was opened by a senior investigator illegally. According to the lawyers, the case had to be launched by the head of the Investigative Committee’s Directorate in the Kirov region.

Belykh has been officially charged with taking EUR 400,000 in bribes. Investigators in cooperation with the Federal Security Service’s (FSB) officers arrested him on June 24 in a Moscow restaurant while he was allegedly accepting EUR 150,000, the third part of the bribe, according to Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin. Moscow’s Basmanny District Court ordered detention of Belykh.

Investigators believe that Belykh took the money, personally and through an intermediary, in exchange for protection of investment business in the region.
Belykh pleaded not guilty.