A Moscow judge has ordered the pre-trial detention of Ilya Traber, a St. Petersburg businessman with alleged ties to President Vladimir Putin, as he awaits trial for the 2020 murder of businessman and politician Alexander Petrov.
The Moscow court system initially published a statement confirming Traber was being placed in pre-trial detention, but it was later deleted without explanation.
However, law enforcement sources told the state-run news agency TASS that Moscow’s Basmanny District Court had charged Traber, 75, with organized murder and arms trafficking, ordering him to be held in custody for two months.
The court handed down the same detention order to Traber’s alleged accomplice, two-time Russian boxing champion Alisultan Nadirbegov.
Both men are accused of involvement in the October 24, 2020, killing of Petrov.
