MOSCOW—Levon Hayrapetyan’s lawyers will appeal against the decision of a Moscow court to extend his detention until December 15, 2014, Hayrapetyan’s lawyer Igor Komarov said.
The lawyers will ask the court to replace the businessman’s imprisonment with house arrest. “Hayrapetyan’s health may considerably deteriorate if he is held in custody,” Komarov explained.
RIA Novosti reported on September 12 that the Moscow court extended Levon Hayrapetyan’s arrest. The court made such a decision despite his lawyers’ statement that Hayrapetyan suffers from several serious diseases and may not survive in prison conditions. A bail of 30 million rubles and guarantees of authoritative persons were offered.
It also became known at the court sitting last week that a second criminal case was opened against Levon Hayrapetyan.
Hayrapetian, 65, was arrested by Russian Federal Security Service officials on July 15. A Moscow court allowed the businessman’s two-month imprisonment while investigators conduct a probe into his alleged criminal connections and involvement in some illegal financial dealings. He was officially charged on July 24 with money laundering and embezzlement and his shares in the Russian oil company Bashneft, said to be worth $8.5 million were frozen.
Hayrapetian is considered to be one of the wealthiest Armenians in the world. He is known to have invested millions of dollars into developing Nagorno-Karabakh’s infrastructure and renovating the area’s historical-cultural monuments. His charity included a mass wedding for hundreds of Karabakh couples in 2008 and sponsorship of the construction of a military college in Martakert.
I wonder what would be ” illegal financial dealings” in Russia??