MOSCOW, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- A local official in a city near Moscow is suspected of arranging the beating of an opponent of a highway project, Russian police said Wednesday.
Three men have been detained on suspicion of organizing the attack, RIA Novosti reported. Investigators say the group may have been behind three similar assaults.
Andrei Chernysov is a member of the administration in Khimki, a large city bordering Moscow on the northwest.
Konstantin Fetisov has been in a coma since he was attacked with a baseball bat Nov. 4. Fetisov was opposed to plans to build a highway between Moscow and St. Petersburg that would go through Khimki and require the destruction of wooded areas there.
Mikhail Beketov, a newspaper editor who opposed the plan, was severely beaten two years ago, while Oleg Kashin, a reporter for Kommersant, was almost killed by a beating two days before Fetisov was attacked. Yevgeny Bobrov, a Moscow lawyer, was beaten on Dec. 15.
President Dmitry Medvedev gave final approval to the highway project Dec. 14.
