MOSCOW, February 15 - RAPSI. The Moscow City Court has affirmed the arrest of Suren Mkrtchan, the director of the Il Pittore restaurant in Moscow, after an explosion killed three people and injured 38 more on January 9.

The court dismissed Mkrtchan's request to substitute pretrial detention with a non-detention measure.

The explosion occurred at the Italian restaurant on January 9, killing two restaurant staff. Another employee died of burns in a Moscow hospital on Thursday. According to the investigators, 41 people were injured and sent to the hospital.

A Moscow district court sanctioned Mkrtchan's two-month arrest on January 13.