VOLGOGRAD, June 21 (RIA Novosti) - A court in the central Russian city of Volgograd ruled Wednesday that the city's mayor, charged with abuse of office and illegal business activities, should remain in custody pending trial.
The regional court upheld a lower court's decision to keep Yevgeny Ishchenko in a detention center, rejecting an appeal by his defense lawyers.
One of the lawyers, Vladimir Bogomolov, who maintains the case is politically motivated, said the defense team would now appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Ishchenko has been in pre-trial detention since May 30. Prosecutors say he used his position to lobby a commercial firm's interests and to illegally allocate land plots for the construction of shops.
The case against the Volgograd mayor is the latest in a series of corruption probes against officials in Russian provinces. His detention followed the arrest of the Nenets Autonomous Area governor on embezzlement charges in May.
