MOSCOW, January 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russian prosecutors have arrested a new suspect in the murder four months ago of Central Bank Deputy Chairman Andrei Kozlov, the suspect's lawyer said Friday.
Yevgeny Martynov said his client, Liana Askerova, was detained in central Moscow Wednesday.
"Liana Askerova is involved in finance, but is not officially on the staff of any banking structure," he said.
Kozlov, 41, was gunned down in a contract-style killing September 13. As the Central Bank official in charge of licensing, he closed down many private-owned banks in an effort to stamp out money laundering and other criminal practices in the sector.
A Moscow district court decided Friday that Askerova should be held in custody pending investigations.
Her arrest comes one day after the detention of Alexei Frenkel, a bank executive suspected of ordering Kozlov's assassination. According to Russian media Frenkel was the head of VIP Bank, shut down by Kozlov over alleged money laundering three months before he was murdered. However, his lawyer, Igor Trunov, has not confirmed his client's reported affiliation with VIP Bank.
Trunov said Friday a court had put off hearings for three days on a warrant to prolong Frenkel's temporary detention.
"The court has accepted our arguments and postponed the hearings for 72 hours at our request, until January 15," the lawyer said.
The lawyer also said police had beaten his client on the spine during the arrest, with the result that Frenkel is now barely able to sit up. An inquiry into the alleged beating is under way, he added.
Prosecutors and police have not commented on the beating allegation.
Eight people have so far been detained in connection with Kozlov's murder, and some have reportedly confessed to having been hired to kill the high-profile banking regulator.
