It halted the hearing into his case on 1 February 2008 because of his grave medical condition. Since then he has been in hospital but remains under guard

The Simonovsky district court in Moscow has extended until 23 October 2008 the detention in custody of Vasily Aleksanyan, former vice president of Yukos. At present he is in City Hospital No 60 where he is guarded round the clock. In mid-July the court decided, on its own initiative, to propose extending Aleksanyan’s period of pre-trial detention.

Opening the hearing on Friday, 18 July, Judge Natalya Korneyeva announced that the detainee’s term in custody would expire on 23 July and presented those taking part in the trial with the possibility that the case might be heard in his absence. Aleksanyan’s defence lawyers petitioned for the judge to be removed from the case, since she had already convicted Svetlana Bakhmina, a former Yukos employee. According to the charges brought against Aleksanyan, said his lawyer Gevorg Dangyan, Bakhmina had been a member of the “very same organised group”.

“You will find it hard to be objective in examining the case of Mr Aleksanyan since you are limited by the circumstance that you have already handed down a conviction on Sevtlana Bakhmina,” Dangyan told the judge. The defence lawyers add that the court should not reconvene to continue the hearing into the case against Aleksanyan, nor should it raise the issue of an extension in custody on its own initiative.

For the prosecution Nikolai Vlasov commented that the defence had no grounds for what it said and also noted that it had not been suggested in court that Aleksanyan’s treatment in hospital be ended. The prosecutor therefore considered their call for the judge to recuse was groundless. Judge Korneyeva said that she had indeed convicted Svetlana Bakhmina as charged but commented that “nowhere in the court’s ruling was the name Aleksanyan mentioned”. The defence petition for Korneyeva to be taken off the case was declined after which the court examined the issue of prolonging Aleksanyan’s detention in custody.

The defence lawyers also raised objections to a resumption of the case in the absence of their client. The law did not permit this. Nevertheless, the court ruled that it would examine the case without Aleksanyan being present.

Addressing the court, the prosecutor stated that the measure of restraint would be changed if the necessity for its application had disappeared and if the circumstances under which it was chosen had also changed. “The grounds on which the measure of restraint was selected for Aleksanyan have not changed,” said prosecutor Vlasov. The defendant was accused of committing serious offences and could put pressure on witnesses or hide from the investigators. As a consequence he was requesting that the measure of restraint be retained and prolonged. Aleksanyan’s lawyers said that “the court cannot, and has no right to, extend the term of detention in custody of Mr Aleksanyan” on the grounds cited by the prosecutor.

Gevorg Dangyan drew the court’s attention to the fact that the last time Aleksanyan’s detention in custody was extended it was due to expire on 2 March 2008. Since then, he considered, his client had been unlawfully held in custody. The prosecutor’s assertion that there had been no change in the circumstances under which the measure of restraint had been selected for his client did not stand up to any criticism. “The trial was halted because Vasily Aleksanyan was diagnosed with grave illnesses,” the attorney reminded the court, saying that this alone was evidence that the circumstances had indeed changed. The gravity of the crimes of which his client was accused had also been downgraded, Dangyan said, to a less serious status.

“If Mr Aleksanyan were to go into hiding, away from the doctors, the IV drips, medicines and treatment he is now receiving, it would be tantamount to suicide,” said his lawyer, criticising the prosecutor’s arguments. His defence team therefore requested that Aleksanyan be released from custody so that he might continue his treatment in hospital.

Announcing the court’s ruling, Judge Korneyeva said: “The judicial collegium has decided to extend Aleksanyan’s detention in custody for three months, i.e. until 23 October 2008.” The ruling indicated that the court considered it “sensible to extend V. Aleksanyan’s detention in custody” since he was accused of committing serious crimes and, if freed, might exercise influence on others, including the witnesses.

His defence team announced that they intended to appeal to the Moscow City Court against this decision.

(Interfax, 18.07.2008)