Moscow court denies Tulupov house arrest after case-opening decision revoked

Moscow's Basmanny District Court declined to place investigator Nikita Tulupov under house arrest in a case involving jewellery missing from blogger Valeria Chekalina. Prosecutors told the hearing that the decision to open the case had been revoked.

The Moscow courts' press service said on October 9 that a prosecutor opposed investigators' request to place Nikita Tulupov under house arrest. The prosecutor cited the revocation of the decision to open a criminal case. Taking that information into account, the court rejected the application.

Tulupov faced an allegation of exceeding official powers under Article 286 of Russia's Criminal Code. The inquiry concerned jewellery seized from blogger Valeria Chekalina, known as Lerchek. RBC reported that the Interior Ministry's internal security officers identified breaches in the storage of seized property.

Chekalina's lawyer, Viktor Dugin, previously said an investigator failed to return jewellery valued at 14.4 million roubles after the investigation involving the blogger and her former husband, Artyom Chekalin, ended. That valuation was stated by her defence. TASS reported that Tulupov denied guilt.

The reported decision concerns the opening of the case and the application for a preventive measure. The courts' statement contains neither a conviction nor an acquittal and does not establish who was responsible for the missing property.