Copyright tass
ST. PETERSBURG, October 27. /TASS/. The Oktyabrsky District Court in Russia’s second largest city of St. Petersburg has ruled to place in custody four young men, accused of attacking Andrey Mostovoy, a left-winger for Zenit St. Petersburg, and kidnapping businessman Sergey Selegen, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom. Judge Natalya Ryabova has ruled "to grant the investigator’s request" and "choose the measure of pretrial restraint in the form of two months of arrest, until December 25." The case was heard behind closed doors, as requested by the investigators. The suspects were identified as Stepan Miroshin, Samir Pavlov, Rustam Khudaikulov and Vladimir Yakovlev. They pleaded guilty to all charges. According to case files, Miroshin did not participate in the crimes directly, he only gave instructions to other suspects. The detention of the four suspects was reported earlier on Monday. They are facing charges of kidnapping, robbery and attempted kidnapping. Later, the Russian Investigative Committee and the Interior Ministry said the fifth suspect - a resident of the town of Zaraysk near Moscow - was also detained. Attempted kidnapping According to TASS sources in law-enforcement agencies, late on October 23 a group of men attempted to kidnap Andrey Mostovoy, a left-winger for Zenit St. Petersburg and a member of Russia’s national football team. The footballer fought back and ran away from the attackers, who fled the scene by car. On October 25, they kidnapped developer Sergey Selegen, the founder of a legal entity behind Fizika Development. The businessman was kidnapped for extortion as masked attackers assaulted his Toyota Land Cruiser near a food store on Vyazovaya Street. The police were scrambled without delay, and the Toyota Land Cruiser with the abducted man and three attackers inside was tracked and stopped on Morskaya Street. The accomplices demanded 10 million rubles ($126,000) from the businessman, threatening him with a pistol. Fearing for his life, the man transferred them 210,000 rubles ($2,600) and said his wife would bring the remaining part of the sum when the police foiled the crime. The suspect behind the plot, a second-year student from a St. Petersburg university, was arrested in Kudrovo, a St. Petersburg suburb.
