RIAN: Medvedev pushes Russian courts to bail economic crime suspects

Medvedev pushes Russian courts to bail economic crime suspects

17:15 26/02/2010
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that people suspected of
economic crimes should be released on bail more often to prevent jail being used
to pressure businessmen, as well as to cut the prison population.

“I suggest a rather high level of bail be introduced, a minimum of 500,000
rubles ($16,600) for serious crimes and 100,000 ($3,300) for smaller offences,”
Medvedev said.

Bail is rarely used in Russia, where suspects can spend two or three years in
detention pending trial. Intimidation by security forces is another problem
often voiced by Russian defense lawyers and rights groups.

Last November a lawyer representing a London-based hedge fund (*) died in a
Moscow jail while awaiting trial on tax evasion charges. Supporters say Sergei
Magnitsky was denied access to medical treatment.

The Supreme Court said earlier this month it was drafting legislative amendments
to introduce the 5,000 ruble lower bail bracket for insignificant economic
crimes and 200,000 ($6,600) for major offences. The Justice Ministry proposed
50,000 rubles ($1,600) and 250,000 rubles ($8,300) respectively.

Meeting with business leaders and the prosecutor general in his country
residence, Medvedev said higher bails and written pledges not leave town or
country during the investigation would help prevent “corrupt security officers”
from jailing entrepreneurs and seizing their companies.

“We all know of plenty of such examples. They put you in a slammer on a
competitor’s tip and let you out for money,” Medvedev said.

Medvedev also said securities and real estate could be accepted as bails.

The Russian government has moved to mitigate legislation on economic crimes. A
law banning confinement for suspected tax dodgers came into force in January
2010. Suspects who face tax evasion charges for the first time or paid their
arrears will now be able to avoid prosecution.

And parliament is considering a bill that curbs the practice of pre-trial
detention for suspects in economic crimes.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the founder of the now-defunct Yukos oil firm and once
Russia’s richest man, who is in prison on large-scale fraud and tax evasion
charges, was denied bail in 2003 and was tried behind closed doors, triggering
accusations in Russia and abroad of a politically motivated trial.

BARVIKHA, February 26 (RIA Novosti)
____________________________________________________

(*) Describing the late Sergei Magnitsky as “representing a London-based hedge
fund” is a typical bit of RIAN deceit. RIAN pretends to be objective but it is
far from being so. The history of the case makes it abundantly clear that there
was no involvement in the fraud whether as victim or otherwise by any
London-based hedge fund, and the criminal activities he was investigating were
all in Russia, where it is still clear that no action is being taken against the
criminals who masterminded the frauds. President Medvedev appears to be
powerless to act in the case. Perhaps because the ultimate beneficiaries of the
frauds include a Vladimir Vladimirovich? ….Stranger things have happened.
JP