Closer to Nevzlin
Yesterday, Moscow City Court sentenced to life imprisonment Yukos former security chief Alexey Pichugin for masterminding a few murders and attempted murders. According to the defense, the key purpose of prosecutors was “to turn Yukos into a gang of killers.” Pichugin’s verdict was “the first step to condemning Leonid Nevzlin,” said Prosecuting Attorney Kamil Kashaev, making clear again that exactly Nevzlin is the longed-for prey of prosecutors.
According to prosecutors, Alexey Pichugin arranged in 1998 the murder of Fenix Co. owner Valentina Korneeva, who had been at law with Yukos because of the real estate, and of Nefteyugansk mayor Vladimir Petukhov, who had demanded from Yukos to pay taxes to local budget. He also masterminded two attempted murders of East Petroleum Handelsgas GmbH Executive Manager Evgeny Rybin, who had claimed from Yukos to pay back $110 million. Rybin’s firm had invested that amount in development of Zapadno-Poludennoe and Krapivinskoe fields.
Yesterday, the judge was in no hurry when considering details of the case. Indeed, only the story of attempted murder of Rybin took nearly an hour and a half. Of vital importance was the statement of Alexey Golubovich, former chief of investment department at Bank MENATEP, who came up with the evidences first time exactly at the recent trial.
“Pichugin and Nevzlin had informal relations,” Golubovich said, specifying that paying to Rybin in 1998 to 1999, i.e. when the latter demanded his compensation, would have collapsed Yukos, which suffered financial difficulties at that time.
Moreover, according to the witness, Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Leonid Nevzlin personally held meetings “on Rybin’s problem,” which were attended by security officers. “Give me a couple of months and I will sort it out,” Nevzlin said once, according to Golubovich. After the attempted murder, the witness went on, Nevzlin told all Yukos employees that the incident was caused by some other financial problems of Rybin.
In the end, the court found Pichugin guilty in all particularly grave crimes incriminated to him. He was acknowledged of serious hazard to society and sentenced to life imprisonment in line with demand of Prosecuting Attorney Kamil Kashaev.
So, today's big game for prosecutors is apparently Yukos major holder Leonid Nevzlin. Life sentence to Pichugin could be just one of the methods to force him to testify against Nevzlin. In any case, the verdict spells out Nevslin’s involvement in the crimes. But the trial against Nevzlin is likely to be held in absentee. Nevzlin is the resident of Israel, and Israel never extradites its citizens.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 07, 2007
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