LONDON, December 23 (RIA Novosti) - The Bow Street Magistrates Court denied Russia the extradition of Alexander Temerko, former vice president and deputy board chairman of embattled oil major Yukos, Friday.
Judge Timothy Workman issued the ruling after studying Russia's extradition case and hearing from witnesses.
The judge cited articles 81 and 87 of British extradition law on political persecution.
The defense team furnished ample evidence and called witnesses to prove that the case was politically motivated, Workman said. Russia, however, did not back its case with witness statements.
The judge cited a defense witness who said Temerko would not face a fair trial in Russia and recalled that Bill Bowring, the British lawyer who represented Chechens in the European Court of Human Rights, had been deported from Russia. Workman ruled that the defendant should be cleared of the charges and released.
Lawyer Peter Coldwell representing Russia did not say whether the prosecution would appeal the decision, but said they had 14 days to decide.
The Russian Prosecutor General's Office, which sent the extradition request to Britain, has accused Temerko, who has lived in London since November 2004, of masterminding the embezzlement of 19.7% of shares in Russian oil and gas company Yeniseineftegaz in 2002.
Workman presided over the extradition trials of Chechen separatist emissary Akhmed Zakayev in 2003, Russian fugitive oligarch Boris Berezovsky and businessman Yuly Dubov in the same year, and former Yukos managers Natalia Chernysheva and Dmitry Maruyev this March. Extradition was denied in all the cases.
