Moscow City Court confirming sanction for Berezovsky's arrest

On Wednesday the Moscow City Court confirmed the legitimacy of the sanction for arresting the notorious businessman Boris Berezovsky issued by Moscow's district /Basmanny/ court on October 30th.

Thus, the court for appellate jurisdiction rejected the cassation appeal of Berezovsky's lawyers, Andrei Borovkov and Semyon Aria, who had claimed the district court's decision was illegal.

The Basmanny court of Moscow issued a sanction for Berezovsky's arrest in connection with the criminal case of 2,000 embezzled cars at the AvtoVAZ plant in 1994-1995 that is now being investigated by the General Prosecutor's Office. At that time Berezovsky was chairman of the board of LogoVAZ, the Tolyatti plant's official dealer. At present his official post at LogoVAZ is a consultant on relations with foreign partners.

On October 30th, the Basmanny court also ruled to keep in custody two other ex leaders of LogoVAZ, general director Julia Dubova and her deputy Badri Patarkatsishvili.

At present the Moscow City Court is considering their lawyers' appeal about the chosen restraint measure.

The defense intends to question the verdict with supervisory authorities, including the Supreme Court of Russia, Borovkov said, when commenting on the court's decision. He did not rule out that "after all opportunities of Russian justice have been used, the lawyers will turn to the European Human Rights Court in Strasbourg".