The court did not release the haggard prosecutor Ignatenko under house arrest

The Moscow City Court extended until July 1 the arrest period for former Deputy Prosecutor of the Moscow Region Alexander Ignatenko, who is accused of extortion and receiving a large-scale bribe (clause “c” and clause “d” of Part 4 of Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) for “protecting” underground casino.

Representative of the Prosecutor General's Office Sergei Bochkarev made a speech in court in defense of a former employee of the department. Bochkarev insisted on house arrest for Ignatenko, citing the serious health condition of the accused, his illegal extradition from Poland and the fact that the rest of the defendants in the case are under recognizance not to leave. During the 13 months he spent in a Polish pre-trial detention center, Ignatenko’s health deteriorated significantly. In the photographs, Ignatenko looks pale and haggard. According to the Kommersant newspaper , his psoriasis and other chronic diseases have worsened. The fact that Ignatenko is seriously ill was confirmed to PublicPost by his lawyer Alexander Asnis: “We filed a petition for a comprehensive medical examination of him. But it is unethical to disclose the diagnosis; we were not even allowed to do this in court.” According to the lawyer, the court's decision is illegal and unfounded and will be appealed by the defense.

A criminal case for “protection protection” of an illegal gambling business by Moscow region prosecutors and police officers was opened in May 2011. During the investigation of the case, 11 people were arrested, including Odintsov’s prosecutor Roman Nischemenko and Serpukhov Oleg Bazylyan. At the moment they are all under subscription. The alleged organizer of the corruption scheme, Alexander Ignatenko, fled to Poland, where he was arrested and, after 13 months in jail, extradited to Russia on February 7 this year.