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Jailed Former Makhachkala Mayor Faces New Trial


The jailed former mayor of Makhachkala, the capital of Russia's restive Daghestan region, is facing a new trial.

The North Caucasus Regional Court, in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, said that it would start preliminary hearings in the case against Said Amirov and several former associates on April 28.

The new charges include planning a terrorist attack and attempted murder of a top law enforcement official.

In July, Amirov was convicted of planning a terrorist act and illegal weapons possession and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The charges stemmed from what authorties said was a plot for a missile attack against a plane carrying Sagid Murtazaliev, the head of the Russian Pension Fund's branch in Daghestan, and the 2011 killing of an Investigative Committee official, Arsen Gadzhibekov.

Amirov pleaded not guilty.

Amirov, 60, became Makhachkala’s first elected mayor in 1998. An assassination attempt in 1993 left him wheelchair-bound.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax

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