Moscow, Mar 02: A deputy mayor responsible for land and property issues in Siberia's largest city, Novosibirsk, was shot to death on Tuesday in what prosecutors suspect was a contract killing, Russian news reports said.
Deputy Mayor Valery Maryasov was shot in the elevator of his apartment building in Novosibirsk in the morning, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported, citing regional prosecutor's office spokeswoman Natalya Markasova.
Markasova said prosecutors believe the slaying was a contract killing linked to Maryasov's position as head of the land and property department in the city of some 1.4 million about 2,800 kilometres east of Moscow.
As state property in Russia is privatised, property disputes are common and are sometimes resolved violently. Maryasov was appointed to the post 's predecessor in the post, Igor Belyakov, was also slain in an apparent contract killing, ITAR-Tass reported. Nobody has been charged in Belyakov's killing.
Bureau Report
