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MOSCOW, May 23 (RIA Novosti) - Lawyers acting for a former Russian nuclear power minister, Yevgeny Adamov, asked Tuesday that prosecutors drop embezzlement and abuse of office charges against their client.
The Prosecutor General's Office officially charged Adamov, 67, on December 31, 2005, after a long battle to secure his extradition from Switzerland. He has been held in custody since his return to Russia.
"Lawyers [Timofei] Gridnev and [Genri] Reznik filed a motion to halt the criminal case against Adamov as his actions did not constitute a crime," a Moscow City Court representative said.
Prosecutors in the case asked Moscow City Court to extend Adamov's detention by two more months until August 8, claiming that the defense had not yet finished studying the case materials. Defense lawyers said they had finished studying the criminal case on Monday and signed a protocol to that effect.
The U.S. accused Adamov, who served as nuclear power minister 1998-2001, of misappropriating $9 million given to Russia for nuclear safety projects. He would have faced 60 years in prison if convicted in the U.S.
On October 3, the Swiss Federal Justice Department announced it would extradite the former minister to the U.S., but Adamov's defense team filed an appeal with the Federal Tribunal, Switzerland's Supreme Court, in Lausanne in November.
