Ex-Defense Minister Serdyukov summoned to investigators Tuesday, refused to testify - lawyer
MOSCOW. July 24 (Interfax) - Former Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov was summoned to the Investigative Committee on Tuesday to be questioned as a witness but refused to testify, referring to Article 51 of the Russian Constitution guaranteeing people's right not to testify against themselves, Serdyukov's lawyer Genrikh Padva told Interfax.
"My client and I visited the Investigative Committee yesterday, but Serdyukov refused to testify in keeping with the right guaranteed to him by the Constitution," Padva said.
The Investigative Committee reported on Tuesday that military investigators had opened two more criminal cases into the sale of underpriced real estate items in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In particular, the matter concerns the sale of a gardener's house and two outbuildings in St. Petersburg dating back to the 18th century, which are part of Tauride Palace, a federal cultural heritage monument.
Padva called the accusations absurd.
He described the real estate item figuring in the case as "a small hut, which is in dilapidated condition."
The lawyer stressed that the contract on selling the item had been concluded years ago.
"Everything was made absolutely openly, and neither the buyer, nor the seller, or the controlling bodies have had any questions since the moment of the site's sale," he said.
"It is just absurd to say that the real estate item was sold at a knock-down price," he said.
The investigators did not say when Serdyukov could be summoned for questioning again, Padva said.