Bashneft case defendant Airapetyan released from custody, placed under house arrest
MOSCOW. Oct 3 (Interfax) - The Basmanny District Court of Moscow ordered on Friday to release businessman Levon Airapetyan from custody and place him under house arrest. Airapetyan is a co-defendant in the Bashneft case along with AFK Sistema chief Vladimir Yevtushenkov and the oil company's ex-chief Ural Rakhimov.
The court thus granted a request from the investigator who asked for Airapetyan's constraining measure to be changed from remand to house arrest, an Interfax correspondent said.
Officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) detained Airapetyan at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport on July 15. He is charged with abetting misappropriation or misuse of funds, as well as legalization of a large amount of financial or other assets acquired criminally by a group of persons.
It emerged in September that Airapetyan also faces criminal charges for stealing money from the mother of Bashkir ex-senator Igor Izmestiyev who is serving a life sentence for organizing murders.
Earlier media reported that the reason for Airapetian's arrest was the evidence given to investigators by Izmestiyev. According to the ex-senator, Airapetyan was involved in the April 2009 sale of Bashneft by Rakhimov who had led the company for three years. A freeze on Bashneft shares owned by AFK Sistema was also imposed as part of the criminal case against Airapetyan.