 A main suspect in the murder of American journalist Paul Klebnikov has been detained by Belarussian authorities after reportedly fleeing to Minsk to hide from Russian authorities. Kazbek Dukuzov, an ethnic Chechen,
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was detained along with several other people and is being held at a detention facility of the Belarussian Security Services, or KGB, in Minsk, Belarus' Interior Ministry said Monday. A suspect named Kazbek was earlier linked to the July 9 murder and is believed to have made several phone calls to another suspect on the night of the murder. It was unclear, however, whether the suspect detained in Minsk was the same man. Belarussian Interior Ministry spokesman Gennady Glebcha confirmed by telephone from Minsk that several arrests have been made in a joint operation between the Interior Ministry and the KGB. Glebcha, however, declined to give any details about the arrests or comment on any connection to Klebnikov's murder. Klebnikov, the editor of Forbes Russia, was shot outside his office in an apparent contract hit. Late last week, the Prosecutor General's Office charged Musa Vakhayev, 40, a native of the Chechen town of Urus-Martan, for involvement in Klebnikov's slaying, Vremya Novostei reported Monday. Citing investigators, the newspaper reported that Vakhayev is suspected of driving the car from which Klebnikov was gunned down. Kommersant reported earlier that Vakhayev's fingerprints were found in the Lada. Kommersant also reported that a man named Kazbek made several calls to Vakhayev's mobile phone on the evening of the murder. |