Makhachkala mayor detained for two months

A court in Moscow has ordered the mayor of Makhachkala, Said Amirov, to be detained for two months. Amirov is accused of murdering a member of the Investigatiev Committee.

The police have also detained ten associates of Amirov.

Bagand Magomedov, who has just been appointed as the acting mayor of Makhachkala, says the arrest of Amirov was undertaken in violation of Russian law.

However, the head of the Dagestani parliament, Khiari Shikhsaidov, says the procedure met all legal standards.

Said Amirov was one of the most influential people in Dagestan and the whole of the North Caucasus, Russian political journalist Yuliya Latynina believes. His arrest obviously shows that the political situation in Dagestan has changed, but it's not clear why exactly the operation was held now. Latynina said yesterday in her weekly radio programme on Ekho Moskvy.