Criminal neglect and blackmail from the moment of his arrest.


Vasily Aleksanyan (aged 36), married, father of one

A lawyer, Aleksanyan was part of the defence team for Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Vasily Shakhnovsky.

On 30 March 2006 he was appointed executive vice president of Yukos. A week later he was arrested.

On 14 July 2006 Aleksanyan was charged with misappropriation (§160.3, a & b), legalisation of criminally-acquired property (§174.3) and tax evasion (§198.2).

In September 2006 he was diagnosed by the Moscow City AIDS centre as HIV-positive. (The diagnosis remained confidential until the prosecutor made it public, without Alexanyan’s permission, at the 16 January 2008 Supreme Court hearing.) A forensic medical examination concluded on 22 November 2006 that he might remain in prison, on condition that he received highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART).

From his arrest until 26 October 2007 he was held in pre-trial detention centre 99/1. Throughout that period, as medical records later passed by the Russian authorities to the European Court of Human Rights show, Aleksanyan did not receive HAART.

Meanwhile, on 28 December 2006 and in April 2007 Aleksanyan says he was offered freedom and / or treatment in return for the testimony the prosecution required. (See his statement to the Supreme Court on 22 January 2008.)

On 23 October 2007 a panel of specialist doctors examined Aleksanyan was again examined at the Moscow City AIDS Centre. His condition was now considered serious. As a consequence of previous lack of treatment his medical condition worsened drastically and he developed a tumour in his liver, heart problems and his lymph glands were affected.

Yet on 26 October 2007 he was moved not to the AIDS Centre but to the infectious diseases ward of the hospital at pre-trial detention centre 77/1 (Matrosskaya Tishina) in Moscow. He subsequently contracted tuberculosis there.

On 26 October 2007Aleksanyan appealed to the European Court of Human Rights.

On 15 November 2007 the Moscow City Court again extended his detention in custody, this time until 2 March 2008.

On 27 November 2007 the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, responding to Alexanyan, issued an Interim Measure requiring the Russian authorities to transfer him without delay to a clinic specialising in the treatment of AIDS and related diseases.

On 27 November and on another occasion during this period, says Alexanyan, the offer of treatment or freedom in return for the testimony the prosecution required was again repeated. (See his statement to the Supreme Court on 22 January 2008.)

On 6 December, following the failure of the Russian authorities to respond, the European Court issued a second Interim Measure, indicating that Aleksanyan must be hospitalised no later than 10 December. This was again ignored.

On 21 December 2007 the European Court issued a third Interim Measure, demanding that Aleksanyan be hospitalised by 27 December and warning that Russia could be found in contravention of Articles 2 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights if the prisoner died in his cell. This demand, and an additional demand for an independent medical commission to be established, were both ignored.

On 15 January 2008 Aleksanyan and his lawyers signed the record, concluding their familiarisation with the case documentation. They also petitioned for Vasily Aleksanyan to be medically examined and for the measure of restraint to be altered to any not involving imprisonment.

On 16 January 2008 Vasily Aleksanyan has accused his jailers of trying to blackmail him into testifying against old associates by denying him the medical treatment he needs to stay alive. In an open letter he said: "Attempts have not ceased to make me give false evidence and provide testimony incriminating other Yukos bosses, in exchange for giving me bail on health grounds, that is, in effect, in exchange for life."

On 18 January 2008 Amnesty International has urged Russia to provide proper treatment for Vasily Aleksanyan. A statement read: "Amnesty International is urging the Russian authorities to transfer ... Aleksanyan to a specialised hospital for HIV/AIDS patients where his illness can be treated adequately."

At the postponed Supreme Court hearing on 22 January 2008 the objection of Aleksanyan and his lawyers to his continued detention in custody, in view of his state of health and the formal end of the preliminary investigation of his case, was turned down. During the trial Aleksanyan unveiled that on 28 December 2006 the prosecutor offered him a deal - freedom in return for testifying against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev. After he rejected the deal his conditions in the pre-trial detention centre gradually worsened. He was kept in rooms at temperatures of 2-3 degrees and contracted several illnesses due to the sanitary conditions in the detention centre.

On 23 January 2008 the new president of PACE Luis Maria de Puig made the statement that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe could intervene on behalf of the vice-president of Yukos in an interview with the Echo Moskvy radio station. “If several deputies propose such an initiative the Assembly can examine their proposal and adopt the corresponding appeal.”

On 24 January 2008 an appeal signed by many well-known human rights activists, including Ludmila Alexeyeva, Lev Ponomaryov, Lidia Grafova and Father Gleb Yakunin, was addressed to the Russian Federation’s ombudsman Vladimir Lukin, requesting his immediate intervention to secure the release of Vasily Alexanyan.

On 25 January 2008 the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Terry Davis, sent a letter to Russia’s permanent representative for CE, Alexander Alexeev, in which he expressed his concerns about Russian authorities’ non-implementation of the decision of Strasburg court with regard to the case of Vasily Aleksanyan.

On 28 January 2008 news conference of the representatives of the Federal Penal Service (FPS) was held. Vasiliy Aleksanyan, receives all the necessary medical help at the remand centre, first deputy head of the medical directorate of the FPS Alla Kuznetsova has said. "Aleksanyan signed agreement to treatment but he refused antiretroviral therapy. I can't name his diagnosis because it's a matter of confidentiality. When he arrived here he already had this illness," she told.

On 29 January 2008 Mikhail Khodorkovsky has launched a hunger strike to protest authorities' refusal to give his jailed ex-lawyer AIDS medication. Khodorkovsky has accused officials of trying to extract incriminating, false confessions from the former lawyer, Vasily Aleksanian, and denying him AIDS treatment until he cooperates. He also accused authorities of deliberately putting him in conditions that exacerbated his illness after he refused to sign false confessions against Khodorkovsky.

On 30 January 2008 the preliminary hearings on Aleksanyan case in Moscow’s Simonovsky court lasted for 6 hours. The defendant was repeatedly provided with emergency aid, Aleksanyan said he was taken to the hearing against his will. With regard to the prospect of his participation in the trial he said: “I wish I could live to see it.”

Aleksanyan's father stated that the Investigations Committee, under the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office, was ready to release Vasiliy Aleksanyan on bail. He said that they had even collected the necessary funds for the bail, but the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office had refused that he be released before a trial.

The Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, Vladimir Lukin, sent a letter to the Prosecutor General’s office requesting ‘to investigate’ the situation with former vice-President of Yukos, Vasily Alexanyan, ‘and, if necessary, take action.’

On 1 February 2008 the Simonovsky court concluded the three-day long preliminary hearing. Judge Irina Oreshkina took the decision to sentence the seriously ill Vasily Aleksanyan.

Platon Lebedev made the following statement: I do not know how to help Aleksanyan while being here in the prison but I’m ready to disavow my, my defence’s pleadings if it proves of any help to Alexanyan. I ask the prosecutor Zhukov to tell Aleksanyan that he can and is entitled to (in the present situation) to give any testimony against me in order to cease this torture for him so that he could keep his life.

Vasiliy Aleksanyan has said he is now receiving "unprecedented attention and care" in detention.

The head of the prison where Aleksanyan is serving time, has asked for him be transferred to a hospital for care. Fikret Tagyev "sent a document to the tribunal asking for authorisation to send Aleksaniyan to a special clinic.

Vasiliy Aleksanyan admitted that he had cancer during the hearing in the Simonovsky Court.

The Russian Federal Penitentiary Service has said it plans to sue Aleksanyan's lawyer, Yelena Lvova. A spokesman said: "The Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center, where Aleksanyan is being held, will sue Yelena Lvova to defend its honour, dignity and business reputation. This decision was made after numerous libellous statements, which discredited the [prison] service."

Russian United Democratic Party ‘Yabloko’ issued a statement calling to immediately stop victimization of Vasily Aleksanyan.

Many well-known human rights activists issued the second statement in support of Vasily Aleksanyan and Mikhail Khodorkovsky

Ella Pamfilova, the Chairman of the Human Rights Committee under the President of Russia, expressed her concern re. the situation with Vasily Aleksanyan.

On 5 February 2008 the Simonovsky court began its verdict of Vasily Aleksanyan. Today the court received a report from Matrosskaya Tishina on Vasily Aleksanyan’s state of health. The report confirmed the defence lawyer’s numerous appeals for their client’s urgent and immediate admittance to a specialist clinic.

On 6 February 2008 the Simonovsky court decided to suspend proceedings into seriously ill Vasily Aleksanyan’s case. The defence team’s appeal for having Vasily Aleksanyan released was rejected. The judge also read out a (fragment): ‘Aleksanyan has now been examined in the detention centre<...> The result of the examination testifies that conditions in the detention centre are adequate for Aleksanyan to receive medical treatment and consultation<…> Aleksanyan will be provided with full medical treatment<…>, for which a change in measure of restriction is not necessary.

Drew Holiner, Advocate, Aleksanyan's representative before the European Court issued a statement re. Russian Court refusal to provide Aleksanyan with treatment as decided by European Court of Human Rights.

On 8 February 2008 Elena Lvova and Gevorg Dangyan were denied to meet with their defendant. The lawyers filed a complaint to the Simonovsky court about the judges’ decision at the preliminary hearings into the release of Vasily Aleksanyan from detention.

The Polish internet site, Gazeta.pl (part of the country’s most popular daily paper, The Wyborczy Gazette) are collecting signatures for a petition addressed to the Russian authorities, in which Poles are requesting Vasily Aleksanyan to be transferred to a hospital.

A protest action in support of Vasily Aleksanyan took place in Samara.

On 9 February 2008 Vasily Aleksanyan’s lawyers managed to find him themselves, in the haematological department of a Moscow hospital. The security guards would not let them see or talk to him. His relatives and family have also not been able to visit him yet.

On 11 February 2008 Vasily Aleksanyan’s lawyers again were denied to meet with their defendant.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky called off his hunger strike.