Protestors at Moscow U.S. Embassy Demand Borodin's ReleaseSeveral hundred people demonstrated on Thursday in front of the U.S. embassy in Moscow in support of former Kremlin aide Pavel Borodin, currently languishing in a New York jail on an international arrest warrant, Russian media reported.Russian deputy Yosif Kobzon told the protestors, numbered by the RIA-Novosti news agency at 1,500, that Borodin's fate "must be decided in Russia." The demonstrators brandished banners demanding Borodin's release and tore up a large poster portraying a hamburger, television reported. Borodin, who is secretary of the largely ceremonial Russia-Belarus union, faces extradition to Switzerland where he is suspected of taking 25 million dollars (27 million euros) in bribes from two Lugano-based construction firms and laundering the cash through Swiss bank accounts. Swiss Prosecutors Have No Evidence Against Borodin, Says Defense AttorneySwiss prosecutors have no evidence to support the money-laundering charges against former Kremlin aide Pavel Borodin, who is being held in a New York jail on an international arrest warrant, Borodin's defense attorney said on Wednesday.All that the Swiss prosecutors have is "information of Borodin's Swiss bank accounts," but no proof that Borodin opened those accounts or used the money from them, attorney Genrikh Padva said quoted by the RIA-Novosti news agency. In violation of the presumed-innocence concept, Borodin is now forced to prove his innocence, Padva said, adding that Borodin is technically a witness, not an accused. "Borodin's case was fabricated by Swiss authorities," Padva claimed, adding that "the idea of bringing Borodin to Switzerland by force is intolerable." Borodin is charged with taking 25 million dollars (27 million euros) in bribes from two Lugano-based construction firms, Mabetex and Mercata, involved in Kremlin renovation work, and then laundering the cash through Swiss bank accounts. Switzerland has formally requested that the United States extradite Borodin on charges of money laundering and belonging to a criminal organization. Swiss prosecutors have conceded privately, however, that they may need additional documents from Russian investigators to convict Borodin -- papers which Moscow has so far refused to share. Borodin, arrested on January 17, has denied illegally opening Swiss bank accounts either for himself or other senior members of the former Kremlin administration, including members of the family of then-president Boris Yeltsin. Borodin's spokesman Ivan Makushok said that even though Borodin was denied newspapers and books, he is kept informed of news of the largely ceremonial Russia-Belarus union of which he is secretary. Union officials said that Borodin's absence seriously hampered their work, and would not spare any additional effort to get him free, Makushok said. |
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