The businessman who allegedly hired men to kill journalist Oleg Kashin goes free from jail

Alexander Gorbunov, the man who journalist Oleg Kashin says hired three men to kill him in December 2010, has been released unexpectedly from pretrial detainment, Kashin reported (with photos of the apparent release forms) earlier today on Facebook. Gorbunov is said to have been released on his own recognizance.

Gorbunov is the CEO of the St.-Petersburg-based Leninets Holding Company, which designs and produces aircraft electronics and weapons-targeting systems. Just last week, a court ruled to keep him in custody, in connection with charges that he illegally possessed various weapons and ammunition. According to Kashin, Gorbunov is also a suspect in the investigation into the December 2010 attack that nearly claimed Kashin's life. Formally, however, Gorbunov is only a witness in this latter case.

One of the men charged with carrying out of the attack on Kashin has reportedly named Gorbunov as the one who organized the murder attempt.

According to the news site Mediazona, Russia's Federal Investigative Service lobbied to keep Gorbunov in jail, while officials from Rostec, a state defense-sector corporation with whom the Leninets Holding Company does business, have taken Gorbunov's side.

• For more on Oleg Kashin's criminal investigation, see: *Journalist Oleg Kashin names the suspects in the 2010 attempt on his life*