MOSCOW, February 6 (RIA Novosti) - A Moscow court halted on Wednesday the trial of the terminally-ill Yukos ex-vice president, Vasily Aleksanyan, and sent him for medical treatment.
Aleksanyan, who has been accused of embezzlement and money laundering, is suffering from both AIDS and cancer, and will undergo medical treatment in a pre-trial detention center.
Lawyers for Aleksanyan had repeatedly asked for the trial to be halted and for their client to be released from custody and transferred to a medical facility for inpatient treatment.
"Aleksanyan is still being kept at the medical department of a pre-trial detention center, and a decision on his transfer should be made by the doctor," prosecutor Nikolai Vlasov said, adding that the court was not authorized to decide on the matter.
Neither the prosecution nor the defense objected to the suspension. However, the prosecution insisted on keeping Aleksanyan in custody while the defense has been insisting on his release.
The court ruled that Aleksanyan must remain in custody, saying that there was a danger that if he was released he may attempt to escape, pressure witnesses, or destroy evidence in the case, despite his lawyers' statements that their client is almost completely blind.
Gevorg Dangyan, a lawyer for Aleksanyan, said the defense intends to file an appeal in the next ten days against the court's ruling to keep their client in custody.
Aleksanyan looked gaunt and tired in court on Wednesday, and was reluctant to talk to the press, saying only that he had not yet received any medical treatment.
The prosecution accuses Aleksanyan of embezzling over 8 billion rubles ($329 million) from the Yukos production unit Tomskneft, as well as shares worth over 12 billion rubles ($493 million) from other oil companies, and of laundering stolen assets.
It was not immediately clear if former Yukos chief, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, 44, would call off his nine-day hunger strike in support of Aleksanyan.
Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, declared a hunger strike last week, demanding that Aleksanyan receive medical treatment.
The ex-Yukos chief is currently serving an eight-year prison term for fraud and tax evasion. He has consistently maintained his innocence, saying that his imprisonment is a direct result of his support for Russia's tiny pro-Western opposition.
Once Russia's largest oil producer, Yukos collapsed after claims of tax evasion, which led to the company being broken up and sold off to meet debts. The bulk of its assets were subsequently bought by government-controlled oil company Rosneft.
Khodorkovsky's business partner Platon Lebedev, also serving eight years for fraud and tax evasion, said last week in a Chita court that he was ready to plead guilty to new charges if it would help Aleksanyan get medical treatment.
The latest charges against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, who were convicted in 2005, include stealing government shares, illegal oil trading, and laundering $25 billion earned from oil sales in 1998-2004. Both businessmen have denied the allegations, calling them politically motivated.
