Affaire Arkhangelsky en France et en Bulgarie

Comment la Russie persécute ceux qui dérangent à l’étranger par le biais de la coopération judiciaire internationale

от Atanas Tchobanov Вторник, 30 Октомври 2012 19:00

Les maîtres du Kremlin ne supportent pas la dissidence et deviennent particulièrement nerveux lorsque des gens ayant des ressources financières s’en « écartent ».   On règle les comptes avec les « oligarques » incommodes avec l’aide du mécanisme public du parquet (en Russie, il demeure une structure militarisée et les procureurs portent l’uniforme) des banques proches du pouvoir. Ainsi, par exemple, Mikhail Khodorkovsky exécute sa peine de nombreuses années dans un camp, et, récemment Alexander Lebedev est accusé de hooliganisme, ce que peut lui valoir 5 ans de prison. Lebedev est connu pour ses déclarations critiques à l’égard du pouvoir de l’autocrate du Kremlin et il a  eu l’imprudence de financer un des rares médias d’opposition, le journal « Novaya Gazeta ».
La sympathie envers l’opposition n’est toutefois pas le seul critère par lequel le pouvoir du Kremlin persécute des russes riches. La motivation peut aussi être purement lucrative, où, simplement parlant, la spoliation des biens.  Tel est le cas d’un homme d’affaires de Saint-Pétersbourg Vitaly Arkhangelsky qui a trouvé asile politique en France. Depuis trois ans, il est persécuté par une banque liée au pouvoir, y compris en Bulgarie, où il possède des biens.
Qui est Vitaly Arkhangelsky?
Aujourd’hui, il est difficile d’imaginer qu’à l’époque morte de stagnation sous Brejnev, un scientifique soviétique a reçu le prix Nobel non d’autre chose mais de l’Economie. En 1975, le mathématicien de Saint-Pétersbourg Leonid Kantorovitch et son collègue américain Tjaling Koopmans deviennent lauréats du Prix Nobel pour

Arkhangelsky case in France and in Bulgaria

How Russia chases “inconvenient” people abroad with the help of international legal co-operation mechanisms

от Atanas Tchobanov Вторник, 30 Октомври 2012 19:03

The Kremlin leaders do not like criticism and get particularly nervous when people of substantial wealth diverge from it.  Inconvenient oligarchs are being chased through the state prosecution mechanism (in Russia, it is still militarized and prosecutors wear uniforms) and through banks close to the government. Thus, Mikhail Khodorkovsky is serving his multi-year prison sentence in a camp, and, recently, Alexander Lebedev has been accused of hooliganism, for which he may be sentenced to up to 5-years in prison. Lebedev is famous for his critical remarks of the Kremlin's autocrat policy and he was unwise enough to finance one of the few opposition media outlets, the “Novaya Gazeta''.
However, sympathies for the opposition are not the only reason for the Kremlin authorities to chase rich Russians. The motivation may be simply lucrative or, to put it simple, expropriation of property. That is the case of the businessman Vitaly Arkhangelsky from St Petersburg, who received political asylum in France. He has been chased for three years now by a bank closely tied to the government, including in Bulgaria, where he has some property.
Who is Vitaly  Arkhangelsky?
It is difficult to imagine that right in the depth of the Brezhnev’s stagnation, a soviet scientist received a Nobel Award for not other subject than economics.  In 1975, the mathematician from St Petersburg Leonid Kantorovich and his American colleague Tjalling Koopmans were awarded for their contribution to the theory of optimal distribution of resources. 15 years later, the Soviet economy collapsed as an illustration of the difference between theory and practice. Kantorovich and Koopmans’ contribution, however, was not questioned, because their linear mathematical model is applicable to the conditions of a free market, which did not exist in the Soviet reality.

«St Petersburg». Students. Investigation.

TRANSLATION FROM RUSSIAN

http://www.fontanka.ru/2012/10/16/135/

The Bank which counts among its shareholders the son of the former governor of St Petersburg, Matvienko, recently announced on the web that it was looking for volunteers to work for the benefit of law-enforcement authorities. Student trainees will have to organize the work of law-enforcement authorities aimed at revealing economically targeted criminal offences in the sphere of banking. Officially, the bank has already denied the existence of such trainings for students.

Recently, vacancies for students of higher and secondary educational institutions were announced on the web for training in the Bank St Petersburg. The scope of duties of future trainees included “organization of activities of

Press-release: Julia Arkhangelskaya and her young children were assaulted in Nice (France)

Nice 21, October 2012
The offender was hiding in the back scales near Julia Arkhangelsky’s flat in Nice and assaulted her when she was opening the door. The Public Prosecutor’s office of Nice deals with the case. Mr. and Mrs. Arkhangelsky are convinced that the Bank St Petersburg, their management and lawyers are behind this new episode of harassment they have been living since 2009, as long as they have no other enemies.
This is the second criminal case against them. The file of the first criminal case, which is being investigated since about one and a half year by the First Investigating judge of the Tribunal de Grande Instance (High Court) of Nice, is kept confidential. This case has been initiated against a group of people, among which owners and managers of the Bank St Petersburg, for using forged documents in judicial procedures in order to unlawfully mislead courts and obtain judgment enabling them to misappropriate Arkhangelsky’s valuable properties. The Criminal Code of the French Republic provides for up to 10 years imprisonment and a fine of € 1.000.000 for such crimes. Alexander Savelyev seems to use all his best efforts in order to avoid being interrogated by the French Investigating judge.
The Court of Nice has already interrogated certain managers of the Bank St Petersburg including Savelyev’s Deputy Konstantin Balandin. The file counts at this stage about 5000 pages. Vitaly Arkhangelsky’s lawyers expect that the Court will release letters rogatory in order to obtain, from Russian authorities to bring Savelyev’s for interrogation before the Court of Nice.