Tweet
Sick Yukos official freed on bail
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/ europe/7805505.stm
Published: 2008/12/31 00:13:45 GMT
Vasily Aleksanian, the ailing jailed former executive of Russia's Yukos
oil firm, has been freed after posting £1.2m ($1.7m) bail, his lawyers
say.
They say the guard from his hospital ward in Moscow has now been
lifted.
Mr Aleksanian, who has Aids and cancer, faces money laundering,
embezzlement and tax evasion charges.
In January, jailed Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky went on hunger
strike in protest at denial of medical treatment to his sick colleague.
Khodorkovsky - who is serving an eight-year sentence in Siberia on
fraud and tax evasion charges - said officials were punishing Mr
Aleksanian, aged 36, for refusing to sign false confessions against
him.
The Russian prosecutor's office has denied the claims.
'Unreasonable' bail
"The bail has been paid, and one hour ago the guard was lifted from
Aleksanian's ward," lawyer Yelena Lvova told Russia's Ria Novosti news
agency on Tuesday evening.
"Aleksanian's father expresses his gratitude to all of those people who
made it possible to collect funds," the lawyer said.
Drew Holiner, Mr Aleksanian's lawyer at the European Court of Human
Rights, told the Associated Press, that his client was "still in
serious condition".
It remains unclear when Mr Aleksanian will actually leave the hosp
ital.
Mr Aleksanian's trial was suspended in February and he was then moved
to a hospital were he was kept under round-the-clock guard.
Earlier this month, a court in Moscow set a 50m Russian rouble bail for
his release which his lawyers and rights groups condemned as
unreasonably high.
The lawyers on Tuesday declined to say who helped to collect the bail
money.
Mr Khodorkovsky's Yukos was gradually dismantled after being hit with
massive back-tax claims.
His supporters have always said that it was punishment for his support
of pro-Western opposition political parties.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/ europe/7805505.stm
Published: 2008/12/31 00:13:45 GMT
Vasily Aleksanian, the ailing jailed former executive of Russia's Yukos
oil firm, has been freed after posting £1.2m ($1.7m) bail, his lawyers
say.
They say the guard from his hospital ward in Moscow has now been
lifted.
Mr Aleksanian, who has Aids and cancer, faces money laundering,
embezzlement and tax evasion charges.
In January, jailed Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky went on hunger
strike in protest at denial of medical treatment to his sick colleague.
Khodorkovsky - who is serving an eight-year sentence in Siberia on
fraud and tax evasion charges - said officials were punishing Mr
Aleksanian, aged 36, for refusing to sign false confessions against
him.
The Russian prosecutor's office has denied the claims.
'Unreasonable' bail
"The bail has been paid, and one hour ago the guard was lifted from
Aleksanian's ward," lawyer Yelena Lvova told Russia's Ria Novosti news
agency on Tuesday evening.
"Aleksanian's father expresses his gratitude to all of those people who
made it possible to collect funds," the lawyer said.
Drew Holiner, Mr Aleksanian's lawyer at the European Court of Human
Rights, told the Associated Press, that his client was "still in
serious condition".
It remains unclear when Mr Aleksanian will actually leave the hosp
ital.
Mr Aleksanian's trial was suspended in February and he was then moved
to a hospital were he was kept under round-the-clock guard.
Earlier this month, a court in Moscow set a 50m Russian rouble bail for
his release which his lawyers and rights groups condemned as
unreasonably high.
The lawyers on Tuesday declined to say who helped to collect the bail
money.
Mr Khodorkovsky's Yukos was gradually dismantled after being hit with
massive back-tax claims.
His supporters have always said that it was punishment for his support
of pro-Western opposition political parties.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress