The plot thickens in planned Putin assassination attempt
A man extradited to Russia is questioned for allegedly planning to assassinate Vladimir Putin after the elections last March. | EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV
Russian investigators are questioning a man suspected in an alleged plot to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin, news agencies reported. Ilya Pyanzin was extradited on 25 August to Russia from Ukraine.
On 28 August, Kommersant daily reported that Pyanzin told investigators he was only a witness to the assassination plot and that the late Ruslan Madayev was behind it.
On 22 August, the Odessa Oblast Court of Appeals upheld the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office's decision to extradite Pyanzin. The following day, according to Kommersant, the prosecutors prepared Pyanzin for extradition. On 25 August, the office handed the individual over to the Russian special services. On the same day, Pyanzin was delivered to Moscow and placed in the Lefortovsky isolation ward.
Pyanzin and fellow suspect Adam Osmayev allegedly planned to assassinate Putin by blowing up his motorcade after the Russian presidential elections last March. The alleged plot has been dismissed by Putin’s critics as Kremlin’s bid to win popularity for the Russian leader.
Pyanzin and Osmayev were arrested in Ukraine. The court dismissed Osmayev's extradition appeal and upheld the Prosecutor General's Office's decision to transfer him to Russia. However, Osmayev had submitted an application to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which in turn advised Ukraine to suspend the extradition proceedings. Osmayev's extradition has been suspended until the Strasbourg court passes a judgment on the lawfulness of his extradition. Meanwhile, Georgia may soon take a decision on granting refugee status to Osmayev, his lawyer Valery Kochetov was quoted as saying on 27 August.
Kommersant reported that, according to sources close to the investigation, during the interrogation on 27 August, Pyanzin told the investigator he was involved in the criminal activity against his will.
He also said that it was not Chechen born Osmayev, arrested in Ukraine, and who confessed to organising the attempted assassination, who was behind the plans, but his compatriot, the late Ruslan Madayev, who was killed as a result of an explosion in his flat in the Ukrainian city of Odessa. Besides plotting to kill Putin and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, Pyanzin is also charged with illegal possession of weapons and making and keeping explosive devices. Pyanzin denies all these charges. (KG) new europe.on line
No comments:
Post a Comment