Investigators have dropped all charges against St. Petersburg businessman Ilya Traber over the 2020 contract killing of a local politician and business rival, Russian media reported Monday.
The Investigative Committee, Russia’s top investigative body, “terminated the criminal prosecution” after finding Traber had no involvement in the killing, his attorney Igor Sochiyants told the state-run TASS news agency.
“The murder charges against him have been dropped,” Sochiyants was quoted as saying.
Traber, 75, now has the legal right to seek state compensation for his unlawful detention, according to the St. Petersburg outlet Fontanka.
The exoneration follows Traber’s release from Moscow’s Lefortovo pre-trial detention center due to health concerns last Thursday. Fontanka, without citing sources, reported that Traber has since been holding a “series of meetings” with government officials and business figures.
Russian authorities have not publicly commented on Traber’s release or exoneration.
Traber was arrested on June 17 and charged with ordering the October 2020 murder of Alexander Petrov outside his home near the Leningrad region town of Vyborg.
The Kremlin has previously confirmed Traber’s ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin during his early political career.
Traber, who had built a shipping and port empire in northwestern Russia during the 1990s, reportedly surrendered ownership stakes in at least four major companies during his two months in detention.
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