Alexanyan Calls Bail “Cynical”

We’ve done a fair amount of blogging about the case of the terminally ill former Yukos general counsel Vasily Alexanyan, who after spending years in prison under no charges and subjected to essentially fatal medical blackmail, was recently given an opportunity to be released on bail – but only by paying the Russian government a staggering $1.78 million bond.  Today the Associated Press reports that he is understandably not too happy about that:

Ill former Yukos executive denounces bail request

The gravely ill former executive of the dismantled Russian oil giant Yukos says the $1.8 million bail for his release from jail is “cynical.”

Vasily Aleksanian, who suffers from AIDS and tuberculosis and has almost lost his eyesight, has been jailed since 2006 on embezzlement and money-laundering charges.

The 36-year old U.S.-trained lawyer said in Wednesday’s statement that the bail granted by the Moscow City Court earlier this month was a “cynical derision of law and common sense.”

Yukos, once Russia’s largest oil producer, was broken up and sold off in auctions ordered by the state.

Criminal cases against jailed Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his executives are widely regarded as Kremlin revenge for Khodorkovsky’s political ambitions.