← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Blond Knight
Thread ID: 19199 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2005-07-18
2005-07-18 21:02 | User Profile
One can only imagine the uproar from various and sundry 'human rights' groups if perchance a "Nazi War Criminal' was to surface in Russia, USA, ect.
[url]http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=\ForeignBureaus\archive\200507\FOR20050718e.html[/url]
Moscow Unhappy About US Appearance for Wanted Yukos Man By Sergei Blagov CNSNews.com Correspondent July 18, 2005
Moscow (CNSNews.com) - Angered by a visit by a wanted former Yukos oil giant executive to Washington, Russian officials have demanded that the United States extradite him.
Leonid Nevzlin should "go on trial and get what he deserves," Russia's deputy prosecutor-general Vladimir Kolesnikov told a press conference here.
He said it was "shameful" that U.S. lawmakers were giving an audience to an individual accused of committing the "gravest crimes" and who appeared on Russian and international wanted lists.
Russian prosecutors have accused Nevzlin of instructing a former Yukos security official to kill a Siberian mayor and two businessmen.
The ex-security official, Alexei Pichugin, is serving a 20 year jail term for murder, his sentence having been upheld by the Russian Supreme Court on July 14. He now faces new charges of murder and assassination attempts, allegedly carried out on Nevzlin's orders.
Last week, Nevzlin addressed a group of U.S. congressmen in Washington, telling them that Russia's membership in the Group of Eight most industrialized powers should be suspended because of repressive policies.
He also questioned Russia's future membership in the World Trade Organization.
The wanted man told members of the U.S. Helsinki Commission that international pressure was needed if Russia was to develop towards democracy.
Russia should not be allowed to chair the G8 next year, he said, supporting a congressional motion to suspend Russia's membership in the grouping until it demonstrated a commitment to democracy.
"Hardened and cynical forces in the Kremlin understand and respond only to sanctions that threaten their own interests," Nevzlin told the commission.
"Making clear that Russia's continued membership [in the G8] depends on its adherence to democratic principles and the rule of law will gain the attention of a leader who clearly relishes his position in the G8 club."
Konstantin Kosachev, head of the international relations committee of the State Duma - the lower house of the Russian parliament - told journalists Nevzlin's trip to the U.S. was an overtly unfriendly gesture towards Russia.
Nevzlin left Russia for Israel in 2003, as the legal onslaught on Yukos started, and has been living there since.
After he was charged in July 2004, Russia has sent requests for his extradition to Israel and the U.S.
State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the U.S. government does not comment on extradition requests, but noted that the U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Russia.
Last May, former Yukos chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky was sentenced to nine years in jail after being convicted on fraud and tax evasion charges.
Khodorkovsky's allies had long accused President Vladimir Putin of acting against Yukos for political reasons, and after his sentence was handed down the fallen tycoon said "I know that my conviction was decided in the Kremlin."
At the time, Rep. Tom Lantos (D-California) told reporters he would draft a resolution on expelling Russia from the G8.
Rep. Christopher Smith (R-N.J), co-chairman of the Helsinki Commission, in a statement described the Khodorkovsky as "reminiscent of the dissident trials of the Soviet era."