Vasily Aleksanyan
Encyclopedia
Vasily Georgievich Aleksanyan was a Russia
n-Armenian
lawyer, businessman, and a former Executive Vice President of Yukos
oil company. On 6 April 2006 he was arrested as a suspected accomplice to tax evasion and money laundering. After a decision by European Court of Human Rights, he was released on a bond in January 12, 2009, dying from complications of AIDS on 2 October 2011.
and the Law School
of Harvard University
as a Master of Laws
. In 1992 through 1994 he worked for the USA law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. In 1995–1996 he was the head of the legal department for the British Investment firm SUN Group
. Since 1996 he worked as the head of the legal department for Yukos
.
On April 1, 2006, amidst the legal troubles over Yukos company, his position was elevated to that of Executive Vice President. His new position was accepted by the shareholders on April 4. His main stated goal in the new role was to streamline the corporate governance, achieving direct control over the assets of the company from the London
Yukos headquarters bypassing the Moscow
based offices of Yukos RM and Yukos EP. The decision was quite important for the struggling company as the Moscow based offices bluntly refused all the supervision from London obeying orders of the government-controlled Rosneft
instead. According to Aleksanyan, the lost control over the Moscow offices led to financial irregularities, including e.g. surfacing of counterfeit 10 billion ruble
promissory note
.
On April 6, 2006 Aleksanyan was taken into custody as a suspected accomplice to tax evasion and money laundering by Yukos. According to prosecutors, Aleksanyan was an accomplice to the embezzlement
of more than 12 billion rubles. The arrest was based on the testimonies of Svetlana Bakhmina
, a subordinate of Aleksanyan arrested in 2004. According to Aleksanyan, Bakhmina's testimonies were false, and were taken from her under pressure.
, insisting that his arrest without court hearings was illegal. He aborted his strike on 27 April 2006.
During Aleksanyan's imprisonment, his health rapidly deteriorated due to HIV
-related illnesses. He became almost blind and developed cancer
of the liver
with metastasis
into the lymph node
s. He also became ill with tuberculosis
.
Despite the grave medical situation demanding urgent antiretroviral treatment
and chemotherapy
in a hospital, he was denied both. The prosecutors also ignored three injunctions by the European Court of Human Rights
on 27 November 2007, on 6 December 2007 and on 20 December 2007. According to Aleksanyan, the prosecutors are demanding false evidence against other Yukos executives from him before starting his medical treatment. On 26 December Aleksanyan made public a statement asking for help from human rights advocates.
Eleven days into a hunger strike in his favour by Mikhail Khodorkovsky
, Aleksanyan was transferred from a pre-trial prison to an oncological hospital on 8 February 2008. On October 20, 2008 Simonovsky Court of Moscow
approved continuing pre-trial detention of Alexanyan despite his grave illnesses (he had cancer
, tuberculosis
and AIDS
and his spleen
was surgically removed).
On December 8, 2008 Moscow City Court reversed the decision of Simonovsky Court and decided to release Alexanyan under a bond of 50 million rubles
(approximately $2 million). He was to be released after the money was paid. Human rights advocates Lev Ponomaryov
and Lyudmila Alexeyeva
welcomed the court decision but expressed concern whether Alexanyan would be able to pay this sum of money.
and obliged Russia to release Alexanyan immediately without any bond.
On January 12, 2009, after a bond of 50 million rubles
was paid, Aleksanyan was released. But he was repeatedly summoned to attend court hearings, where he wore a face mask and could barely stand up during the proceedings. The case against him was only dropped last year as the statute of limitations ran out.
Aleksanyan died at his home in Moscow on October 2, 2011, due to complications from AIDS.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n-Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
lawyer, businessman, and a former Executive Vice President of Yukos
YUKOS
OJSC "Yukos Oil Company" was a petroleum company in Russia which, until 2003, was controlled by Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky and a number of other prominent Russian businessmen. After Yukos was bankrupted, Khodorkovsky was convicted and sent to prison.Yukos headquarters was located in...
oil company. On 6 April 2006 he was arrested as a suspected accomplice to tax evasion and money laundering. After a decision by European Court of Human Rights, he was released on a bond in January 12, 2009, dying from complications of AIDS on 2 October 2011.
Lawyer and businessman
Vasily Aleksanyan graduated from the Moscow State UniversityMoscow State University
Lomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...
and the Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
of Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
as a Master of Laws
Master of Laws
The Master of Laws is an advanced academic degree, pursued by those holding a professional law degree, and is commonly abbreviated LL.M. from its Latin name, Legum Magister. The University of Oxford names its taught masters of laws B.C.L...
. In 1992 through 1994 he worked for the USA law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. In 1995–1996 he was the head of the legal department for the British Investment firm SUN Group
Sun Group
Sun Group is a business conglomerate, which is based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The group is founded by the DMK Chief Dr. Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi and now owned and headed by Indian billionaire Kalanithi Maran and his family members including his wife Kaveri Maran. In a short span, Sun Group's...
. Since 1996 he worked as the head of the legal department for Yukos
YUKOS
OJSC "Yukos Oil Company" was a petroleum company in Russia which, until 2003, was controlled by Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky and a number of other prominent Russian businessmen. After Yukos was bankrupted, Khodorkovsky was convicted and sent to prison.Yukos headquarters was located in...
.
On April 1, 2006, amidst the legal troubles over Yukos company, his position was elevated to that of Executive Vice President. His new position was accepted by the shareholders on April 4. His main stated goal in the new role was to streamline the corporate governance, achieving direct control over the assets of the company from the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
Yukos headquarters bypassing the Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
based offices of Yukos RM and Yukos EP. The decision was quite important for the struggling company as the Moscow based offices bluntly refused all the supervision from London obeying orders of the government-controlled Rosneft
Rosneft
Rosneft is an integrated oil company majority owned by the Government of Russia. Rosneft is headquartered in Moscow’s Balchug district near the Kremlin, across the Moskva river...
instead. According to Aleksanyan, the lost control over the Moscow offices led to financial irregularities, including e.g. surfacing of counterfeit 10 billion ruble
Russian ruble
The ruble or rouble is the currency of the Russian Federation and the two partially recognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Formerly, the ruble was also the currency of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union prior to their breakups. Belarus and Transnistria also use currencies with...
promissory note
Promissory note
A promissory note is a negotiable instrument, wherein one party makes an unconditional promise in writing to pay a determinate sum of money to the other , either at a fixed or determinable future time or on demand of the payee, under specific terms.Referred to as a note payable in accounting, or...
.
On April 6, 2006 Aleksanyan was taken into custody as a suspected accomplice to tax evasion and money laundering by Yukos. According to prosecutors, Aleksanyan was an accomplice to the embezzlement
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
of more than 12 billion rubles. The arrest was based on the testimonies of Svetlana Bakhmina
Svetlana Bakhmina
Svetlana Bakhmina was a middle-ranking legal executive for Yukos, the Russian oil company who was arrested and tried on charges of tax evasion and embezzlement. On April 21, 2009 she was released from jail.-Arrest and trial:...
, a subordinate of Aleksanyan arrested in 2004. According to Aleksanyan, Bakhmina's testimonies were false, and were taken from her under pressure.
In prison
After his arrest Aleksanyan started a hunger strikeHunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
, insisting that his arrest without court hearings was illegal. He aborted his strike on 27 April 2006.
During Aleksanyan's imprisonment, his health rapidly deteriorated due to HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
-related illnesses. He became almost blind and developed cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
of the liver
Liver
The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals. It has a wide range of functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion...
with metastasis
Metastasis
Metastasis, or metastatic disease , is the spread of a disease from one organ or part to another non-adjacent organ or part. It was previously thought that only malignant tumor cells and infections have the capacity to metastasize; however, this is being reconsidered due to new research...
into the lymph node
Lymph node
A lymph node is a small ball or an oval-shaped organ of the immune system, distributed widely throughout the body including the armpit and stomach/gut and linked by lymphatic vessels. Lymph nodes are garrisons of B, T, and other immune cells. Lymph nodes are found all through the body, and act as...
s. He also became ill with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
.
Despite the grave medical situation demanding urgent antiretroviral treatment
Antiretroviral drug
Antiretroviral drugs are medications for the treatment of infection by retroviruses, primarily HIV. When several such drugs, typically three or four, are taken in combination, the approach is known as Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy, or HAART...
and chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
in a hospital, he was denied both. The prosecutors also ignored three injunctions by the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
on 27 November 2007, on 6 December 2007 and on 20 December 2007. According to Aleksanyan, the prosecutors are demanding false evidence against other Yukos executives from him before starting his medical treatment. On 26 December Aleksanyan made public a statement asking for help from human rights advocates.
Eleven days into a hunger strike in his favour by Mikhail Khodorkovsky
Mikhail Khodorkovsky
Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky is a Russian prisoner, considered by some - such as Amnesty International - to have been imprisoned for political reasons, jailed until 2016 and a former Russian oligarch and businessman...
, Aleksanyan was transferred from a pre-trial prison to an oncological hospital on 8 February 2008. On October 20, 2008 Simonovsky Court of Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
approved continuing pre-trial detention of Alexanyan despite his grave illnesses (he had cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
, tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
and his spleen
Spleen
The spleen is an organ found in virtually all vertebrate animals with important roles in regard to red blood cells and the immune system. In humans, it is located in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. It removes old red blood cells and holds a reserve of blood in case of hemorrhagic shock...
was surgically removed).
On December 8, 2008 Moscow City Court reversed the decision of Simonovsky Court and decided to release Alexanyan under a bond of 50 million rubles
Russian ruble
The ruble or rouble is the currency of the Russian Federation and the two partially recognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Formerly, the ruble was also the currency of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union prior to their breakups. Belarus and Transnistria also use currencies with...
(approximately $2 million). He was to be released after the money was paid. Human rights advocates Lev Ponomaryov
Lev Ponomaryov
Lev Alexandrovich Ponomaryov is a Russian politician and human rights activist, member of the Moscow Helsinki Group and former member of the parliament...
and Lyudmila Alexeyeva
Lyudmila Alexeyeva
Lyudmila Mikhailovna Alexeyeva is a Russian historian, human rights activist, founding member of the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group, and one of the few veterans of the Soviet dissident movement still active in modern Russia.-Soviet period:...
welcomed the court decision but expressed concern whether Alexanyan would be able to pay this sum of money.
Release and death
On December 22, 2008 European Court of Human Rights made its decision over the Aleksanyan v. Russia case. The court found Russia in violation of four articles of European Convention on Human RightsEuropean Convention on Human Rights
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...
and obliged Russia to release Alexanyan immediately without any bond.
On January 12, 2009, after a bond of 50 million rubles
Russian ruble
The ruble or rouble is the currency of the Russian Federation and the two partially recognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Formerly, the ruble was also the currency of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union prior to their breakups. Belarus and Transnistria also use currencies with...
was paid, Aleksanyan was released. But he was repeatedly summoned to attend court hearings, where he wore a face mask and could barely stand up during the proceedings. The case against him was only dropped last year as the statute of limitations ran out.
Aleksanyan died at his home in Moscow on October 2, 2011, due to complications from AIDS.
External links
- Statement by Vasily Aleksanyan December 26, 2007
- From Legal Eagle to Dying in a Cage by Alexander Osipovich. The Moscow TimesThe Moscow TimesThe Moscow Times is an English-language daily newspaper published in Moscow, Russia since 1992. The circulation in 2008 stood at 35,000 copies and the newspaper is typically given out for free at places English-language "expats" attend, including hotels, cafés and restaurants, as well as by...
. February 7, 2008. Page 1. - List of State Employees participated in persecution of Aleksanyan by Novaya GazetaNovaya GazetaNovaya Gazeta is a Russian newspaper well known in the country for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs....