A Russian court has decided to terminate the current legal proceedings against Vasily Aleksanian, a former head of Yukos oil company accused of embezzlement and seriously ill, believing that the limitation period had expired. "It should close the case because the statute of limitations has expired," said Olga Nedelin, Moscow Simonovsky court judge. remand for more than four years, Vasily Aleksanian, 37, is suffering from cancer and AIDS. This morning, the brilliant Harvard-trained lawyer was present at the hearings, despite a very serious condition, according to an AFP journalist. Warmly dressed and wearing a mask, he coughed frequently and had difficulty speaking.
"I am a licensed attorney. I fully understand the consequences of closure of the case without rehabilitation. I have no objections, "he said in the morning. It will not include legal claim for compensation.
Mr. Aleksanian was the Chief Legal Officer of Yukos, the former number one Russian oil, which he worked to set standards of corporate transparency, opaque to the past like all Russian companies from the privatizations of the 1990s.
He was arrested April 6, 2006, two days after his appointment as Vice-Chair Yukos, although he had a mission to avoid a speedy dismantling of the group, into receivership.
His decision this position was surprised at the time, some seeing it as a "suicide", given the number of Yukos officials prosecuted, or at least a sign of extreme loyalty to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former CEO of Yukos, imprisoned since 2003. In February 2008, he obtained his transfer to a prison in Moscow clinic after a long civil court battle and mobilization of advocates of human rights.
