Translated material
Unrealistic deadline
The case of ex-Minatom head Evgeniy Adamov ended with his release
Former head of Minatom Yevgeny Adamov was released yesterday. The Moscow City Court replaced the real term of imprisonment of five and a half years, which in February of this year was determined for him by the Zamoskvoretsky District Court for fraud and abuse of power , with a suspended one. The former minister, coming out to reporters from the convoy room without handcuffs, called the decision of the Moscow City Court a “positive impetus,” since both his relatives and colleagues would undoubtedly rejoice at his release. But Mr. Adamov does not want to put up with a conditional, but still, condemnation. Yesterday he announced his intention to appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court (SC).The criminal saga of the former head of Minatom began in May 2005 in Switzerland, where he was arrested at the request of the prosecutor's office of the American city of Pittsburgh. The US authorities accused him of misappropriating funds allocated by the US in the 90s to ensure the safety of Russian nuclear facilities. After this, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation immediately announced claims against Mr. Adamov, also demanding his extradition. Then the demarche of the Russian side was perceived as an attempt to prevent the extradition to the United States of its citizen, who has knowledge of Russian nuclear secrets. For about six months, the Swiss authorities decided his fate, and on the eve of 2006, the ex-minister was taken to Moscow. Having exchanged Swiss bunks for Russian ones, Mr. Adamov spent another six months in Matrosskaya Tishina, and then the Supreme Court changed his preventive measure to a written undertaking not to leave.
The case of fraud and abuse of power by the ex-minister, as a result of which about $30 million was stolen from the state, began to be considered by the Zamoskvoretsky District Court in January last year. Mr. Adamov was accused of entering into a number of illegal transactions, due to which Russia lost a controlling stake in Globe Nuclear Services and Supply GNSS, Limited, a company that supplied uranium raw materials. Also in the dock were the former director of the Trinity Institute of Innovation and Thermonuclear Research, Vyacheslav Pismenny, and the ex-director of Techsnabexport, Revmir Freishtut.
Mr. Adamov felt confident during the trial, as if he had no doubt that his case would fall apart in court. But it turned out the other way around. The court, having agreed with all the charges, which required Mr. Adamov to face nine years in prison, sentenced him to a real sentence of five and a half years - even taking into account his advanced age (he will turn 69 on April 28), scientific titles, participation in liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident.
As the stunned defendant was handcuffed, his lawyer, Henry Resnick, said he would appeal the “unjust and cruel sentence.” He also said that his client "fell a victim of a conspiracy by the superpowers - Russia and America."
Yesterday in the Moscow City Court, Mr. Reznik continued the story that Mr. Adamov “has not just great, but colossal services to his homeland.” “The ideas that Evgeniy Olegovich Adamov nurtured are now being implemented and are bringing in billions of dollars,” said the lawyer. The defense also presented a number of appeals from well-known scientists who spoke in support of Mr. Adamov. The convict himself also did not fail to recall his merits: “I understood that I would have to bear responsibility for what would happen in the industry, and I can proudly state that I have something to be proud of. But I didn’t think that I would have to bear responsibility in such a perverted form.” State prosecutor Viktor Antipov noted to the lawyers that in their arguments “one should look for support not in emotions, but in real facts.”
Disputes between the parties continued for a long time, and only in the evening the court retired to make a decision. “The verdict of the Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow dated February 19, 2008 regarding Evgeny Adamov is changed. A sentence of five years and six months of imprisonment with deprivation of the right to hold public office for three years is considered suspended. The preventive measure will be lifted and he will be released from custody,” the judges announced.
“I’m not surprised,” the state prosecutor said. - Everyone has their own attitude towards the term of punishment. The court took into account all age-related diseases and more. We will certainly not appeal this decision.” The defense had a different reaction. “It is very good that the defendant is now free and not in prison, but I will be completely satisfied when this wrong sentence is overturned,” Mr. Reznik said.
Soon Evgeniy Adamov himself came out to the journalists. “This decision is very significant for my relatives and, I think, for my institute (Dollezhal Research and Design Institute of Energy Engineering. - Ed. ). I'll be going to work in the morning. I regard this as a positive impetus,” said the conditionally released ex-minister.