Tomorrow Platon Lebedev awaits a new extension to his detention in custody

The Chita Region Court has adjourned until tomorrow its decision on extending Platon Lebedev’s detention in the city jail. The court is considering a request from the Investigative Committee that Lebedev’s detention be extended until 2 November 2008.

Lebedev’s lawyers consider the request unlawful since their client has already been in detention for more than 18 months. On Monday the defence demanded that the hearing be postponed and an official enquiry sent to the Constitutional Court in St Petersburg. They consider that parts of Article 109 (Time Terms for Holding in Custody) of the Criminal Procedural Code are in conflict with Articles 22 (Right to freedom and personal immunity) and 55 (Fundamental rights and freedoms) of the Russian Constitution. Article 109, points 4, 5, 7 & 8, permits an extension of custody for reasons other than those which can be justified constitutionally.

“Detention in custody may be prolonged up to 18 months only in exceptional cases that concern individuals accused of committing particularly serious crimes,” Lebedev’s attorney Vladimir Kirsanov told the Chita Region Court. “No further detention is permitted. The accused held in custody must be released without delay, with the exception of cases envisaged by the Criminal Procedural Code.”

Kirsanov considers that Article 109 of the Criminal Procedural Code is in clear contradiction of the principles laid out in the Constitution because it includes the possibility of extended custody for purposes, spelled out in Article 55.3 of the Criminal Procedural Code, that do not come under the range of constitutionally justified restrictions on the rights and liberties of the individual and citizen.

The court did not uphold the petition of the defence lawyers for a halt to the hearing and declined to send an official enquiry to the Constitutional Court as not being a matter for the courts to decide. The spokesman for the prosecution told Interfax-Siberia that the investigators had the right to extend the detention of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev for a further six months above and beyond the 18 month limit. Another three month extension he said is therefore possible, starting on 2 November. “After that they can no longer be held in pre-trial detention,” he commented.

During today’s hearing the defence submitted two more petitions which were also rejected by the court. The first concerned the territorial jurisdiction of the case. The defence attorneys consider that the case should be examined in Moscow where the preliminary investigation took place. The defence also petitioned for an official enquiry to be sent to the State Property Agency, asking if Platon Lebedev had ever owned 38% of the shares in the Eastern Oil Company plc.

(Based on Interfax reports, 14.07.2008)