By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
MOSCOW, Russia – Alexander Lebedev, Russian media and banking businessman and critic of the Kremlin, has been charged with hooliganism, which could entail up to a five year sentence. Last year, Lebedev struck Sergei Polonsky, a property developer, during a televised event. Lawyers and analysts have suggested that a similar assault would normally carry a fine or very brief incarceration. Yet, after a yearlong investigation, Lebedev questions whether the charges against him are politically motivated.
Lebedev has been charged with hooliganism motivated by political hatred, under the same article used to sentence three members of the punk band Pussy Riot last month to two years imprisonment for their anti-government protest in a church.
He was also asked to sign a court document pledging not to travel during the trial, or leave the country. Lebedev refused to do so.
The Novaya Gazeta, a critical investigative newspaper, is partly owned by Lebedev. Lebedev has also supported opposition leader and anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny. Lebedev suggests that he is facing trumped-up charges because of his criticism of the Kremlin.
“It’s part of a campaign, and it’s not to do with my businesses . . .” Lebedev claimed. “This is either to do with Novaya investigations, or it’s because they really think I am some kind of genuine clandestine opposition figure.”
Lebedev, who is worth 1.1 billion according to Forbes, has also suggested that authorities want him out of the country. His National Reserve Bank is under investigation after being raided by armed masked men, surveillance of his business and home have been raised, and a sex tape was leaked onto the internet recently.
“They are hoping I will leave the country,” Lebedev said. “It’s a standard procedure: first they go against your business, then second is a smear campaign and third is the most threatening weapon – first the threat of prison and then, if you don’t emigrate, you go to trial on some fabricated case.”
Since Putin returned to the office of president in May, he has initiated a widespread crackdown on growing opposition against him, as seen in part by the sentencing of the members of Pussy Riot.
The imprisonment of businessmen for supporting opposition politics is not unprecedented. In 2003, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, head of the now bankrupted oil company Yukos, was arrested and jailed on charges of fraud and tax evasion in a case critics say was launched funding the opposition without Kremlin approval.
Lebedev knows he faces the threat of a notoriously politicized justice system. When asked if he was ready to go to prison, he said: “I don’t think anyone can be ready for that, especially someone with a family”.
However, Lebedev is determined to fight. “There has been pressure on me to leave Russia, but I am going to stay here and fight it. Other things against me are also being worked on, and I know about them. But having taken a kind of civic stand, it wouldn’t be right just to leave.”
For further information, please see:
The Independent –Charges Against me are Politically Motivated, says Alexander Lebedev – 27 September 2012
The Moscow Times –Billionaire Lebedev Charged With Hooliganism – 27 September 2012
Radio Free Europe – Billionaire Kremlin Critic Charged With Hooliganism – 27 September 2012
BBC News – Russian Tycoon Alexander Lebedev Charged over Punch-up – 26 September 2012
The Guardian –Alexander Lebedev Charged with Hooliganism and Battery in Russia– 26 September 2012
The Telegraph – Russian Media Mogul in Talk Show Brawl– 18 September 2011
