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Former Yukos executive, Vasily Alexanyan, dies in Moscow
09:27 - 04.10.11
Former executive vice president of the Yukos oil company, Vasily
Alexanyan, died in Moscow on Monday aged 39 of AIDS-caused
complications, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing a
local TV channel.
Alexanyan, charged with money-laundering, tax evasion and
embezzlement, was diagnosed with HIV a few months after he was
arrested in 2006. Shortly after, he contracted tuberculosis and went
nearly blind. According to the prosecution, he embezzled property and
shares from the oil companies Tomskneft and VNK.
Alexanyan was released from custody in December 2008 after posting
bail of 50 million rubles ($1.6mn at current rates). The bail was
returned after the court announced its decision to dismiss the case.
Charges against him were dropped in 2010.
Critics in Russia and the West said his treatment in jail was "inhumane."
Legal proceedings launched against the now defunct oil company Yukos
in 2003, seen by critics as politically motivated, resulted in the
conviction of many executives and shareholders, including founder and
CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Khodorkovsky was arrested in 2003 on tax evasion charges and sentenced
to eight years in 2005. His sentence was extended in a second trial on
separate charges earlier this year and he is now due for release in
2016.
Lawyers for Yukos, which once pumped out more oil than both Libya and
Qatar, had said that the company was hounded out of business after its
owner Khodorkovsky - then Russia's richest man - began funding the
Russian opposition. The Kremlin has consistently denied the
allegation.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled in September 2011 that the
Russian authorities had violated the rights of Yukos, but rejected
claims that the breakup of the oil giant was politically motivated.
Tert.am
09:27 - 04.10.11
Former executive vice president of the Yukos oil company, Vasily
Alexanyan, died in Moscow on Monday aged 39 of AIDS-caused
complications, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing a
local TV channel.
Alexanyan, charged with money-laundering, tax evasion and
embezzlement, was diagnosed with HIV a few months after he was
arrested in 2006. Shortly after, he contracted tuberculosis and went
nearly blind. According to the prosecution, he embezzled property and
shares from the oil companies Tomskneft and VNK.
Alexanyan was released from custody in December 2008 after posting
bail of 50 million rubles ($1.6mn at current rates). The bail was
returned after the court announced its decision to dismiss the case.
Charges against him were dropped in 2010.
Critics in Russia and the West said his treatment in jail was "inhumane."
Legal proceedings launched against the now defunct oil company Yukos
in 2003, seen by critics as politically motivated, resulted in the
conviction of many executives and shareholders, including founder and
CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Khodorkovsky was arrested in 2003 on tax evasion charges and sentenced
to eight years in 2005. His sentence was extended in a second trial on
separate charges earlier this year and he is now due for release in
2016.
Lawyers for Yukos, which once pumped out more oil than both Libya and
Qatar, had said that the company was hounded out of business after its
owner Khodorkovsky - then Russia's richest man - began funding the
Russian opposition. The Kremlin has consistently denied the
allegation.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled in September 2011 that the
Russian authorities had violated the rights of Yukos, but rejected
claims that the breakup of the oil giant was politically motivated.
Tert.am