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The defendants in the “chemists’ case” initiate a criminal case against the drug police
In the capital’s Perovsky District Court, a new scandal broke out during a high-profile trial in the so-called “chemists’ case.” Last Friday, during interrogation, an expert from the Federal Drug Control Service in Moscow was forced to admit that he was unable to conduct a full examination of the substance “ethyl ether”, which, according to the persistent conviction of the drug police, was illegally traded in tons by the defendants - the leaders of the Moscow company Sofex, Yana Yakovleva and Alexey Protsky . And they supplied it to drug manufacturers.The examination of the Federal Drug Control Service confirmed that ethyl ether should be considered a potent medical drug, but the expert was unable to conduct a study on all parameters of this substance, citing the lack of “necessary equipment.” But it was the expert’s conclusion that formed the basis of the case of two Moscow entrepreneurs; they were accused of committing a series of serious crimes, incriminating as many as 36 episodes under three criminal articles, and both spent seven months in prison under arrest. Now Messrs. Yakovleva and Protsky intend to appeal to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor's Office for Moscow with a statement to initiate a criminal case against the expert, since they consider the conclusion he made to be deliberately false. In addition, they are seeking to initiate a criminal case against the investigator who accepted this examination and, thus, in the opinion of Sofex leaders, exceeded his official powers by falsifying evidence.
As the Vremya Novostei newspaper has already described in detail , the Federal Drug Control Service announced the capture of “drug dealer chemists” Yana Yakovleva and Alexei Protsky last fall, although the case itself was initiated back in May 2005. According to the drug police, entrepreneurs, through shell companies, traded ethyl ether, from which they subsequently produced drugs. This trade was illegal, according to investigators, also because Sofex did not have the necessary pharmaceutical license. In the company itself, as reported, 8 tons of ethyl ether were seized, from which, as follows from the press release of the Federal Drug Control Service, “about 1 ton of various synthetic drugs could be produced, which is approximately 10 million doses.” To the illegal acquisition, storage and trade of a potent substance (Article 234 of the Criminal Code), articles on illegal entrepreneurship (Article 171 of the Criminal Code) and laundering of funds obtained by criminal means (Article 174-1 of the Criminal Code) were added. Last July, Messrs. Yakovleva and Protsky were arrested, and only seven months later the preventive measure was changed to a written undertaking not to leave.
The leaders of Sofex claim that the case being investigated against them is grossly fabricated, since at one time the entrepreneurs refused to heed the requests of some drug police to supply acetic anhydride (a precursor used to prepare heroin) to Tajikistan. The businessmen explained that their company has never been involved in pharmaceutical activities, it specializes in industrial supplies of chemicals, and their clients, among others, are many of the largest chemical plants, military units, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and even Moscow State University. Therefore, as the businessmen said, their company did not need a license for pharmaceutical activities. Last week, representatives of these organizations were questioned in court, and they once again confirmed that ethyl ether was used by them only for scientific and industrial purposes and the assumption that it could be used as a drug is completely absurd. It is noteworthy that FSKN employees did not bring similar charges against employees of the structures that bought ether from Sofex, although their actions, following the logic of the drug police, can also be qualified under Art. 234 of the Criminal Code - as illegal acquisition and storage of potent substances.
On Friday, the court questioned UFSKN expert Pavel Bolshakov, based on whose conclusion it was concluded that ethyl ether is a dangerous, potent substance used in medicine, and not an ordinary solvent widely used in science and industry. As Alexey Protsky said, the expert could not answer with confidence any question asked of him. In particular, during the interrogation it turned out that Mr. Bolshakov “erroneously” studied the provided substance according to the pharmacopoeial monograph (special GOST standards for medical substances) of 1982, although the standards change every five years.
According to Mr. Protsky, in order to reliably assert the identity of ethyl and medicinal ether, the expert had to conduct a study of the substance according to twelve parameters (water and impurity content, density, etc.). “But he conducted a study on only eight parameters, and when asked why he did not do this on the other four, he replied that he did not have the necessary equipment for this,” Mr. Protsky said. - If there is no equipment in Moscow, then what is happening in the regions? How do experts identify this or that substance by smell?”
The leaders of Sofex believe that expert Bolshakov violated the federal law “On Expertise”, as well as the Code of Criminal Procedure, according to which the examination must be exclusively reliable and cannot contain any assumptions. The expert, according to the entrepreneurs, told the investigator that he was unable to conduct the study in full, but he did not attach any significance to what was said. “The court found that the examination was unreliable, which means it cannot be considered acceptable evidence of our guilt,” said Alexey Protsky. “This gives us the right to contact the relevant investigative authorities with a statement to initiate a criminal case against both the investigator and the expert.”
“As one pre-revolutionary lawyer said, an accusation is not yet a sign of the defendant’s guilt, and the most astonishing accusation, the most false slander, can be brought against an honest soul,” said Evgeniy Chernousov, lawyer for Sofax leaders. “Protsky and Yakovleva have the right to apply for criminal prosecution of the expert and the investigator, since this led to them being subjected to illegal criminal prosecution for a long time and illegally spending several months in prison.”