Russian court orders freeing ex-Yukos chief

RUSSIA: A Moscow court on Monday ordered the release on bail of a jailed former executive of the Yukos oil group who is battling cancer and AIDS, after human rights activists waged a long battle for his freedom.

Vasily Aleksanian can be released from detention once Moscow City Court receives his bail set at around 1.8 million dollars (1.4 million euros), said Anna Usachyova, a court spokeswoman.

“We changed the terms of Aleksanian’s detention and will free him on bail for 50 million rubles,” Usachyova told AFP.

One of Aleksanian’s lawyers, Yelena Lvova, welcomed the ruling as “progress” in comments to Echo of Moscow radio and added that it came as a surprise to the defence team.

However she expressed concern about the nearly two-million-dollar size of the bail and fear that it might be “a trap that was ordered to leave Vasily Aleksanian in detention.”

Aleksanian’s case has evoked sympathy around the world and prompted a human rights campaign after his lawyers said the prison service denied him proper treatment for more than a year.

He was transferred to hospital in February but kept under round-the-clock guard and an uproar was caused when one of his lawyers complained that he was being chained to his sick-bed.

Last month Aleksanian underwent an operation to remove his spleen, according to his lawyers. Supporters have said he is almost blind and near death.

MOSCOW, AFP