Montenegro refused to give Russia the former owner of the Cherkizov market Telman Ismailov - he is accused of abduction of Abraham Russo and the organization of two murders

SK decided to take "additional measures"

Businessman Telman Ismailov received political asylum in Montenegro, his lawyer Milos Vuksanovichsaid on the evening of October 22. He clarified that the businessman was already released from the Center of Content, where he was after the detention before considering the issue of his extradition to Russia. The Investigative Committee of Russia accuses Ismailov in a number of crimes, including involvement in the murders of two entrepreneurs in 2006 and the organization of the abduction of the singer Abraham Russo in 2004 .

The lawyer Marina Rusakova, also representing the interests of Ismailova, added that, according to her assessment, the businessman received asylum due to the decision of the Zurich prosecutor’s office to close the criminal case of money laundering. This case against Ismailov was excited in December 2018 after applying to the Swiss prosecutor's office of BM Bank JSC (in the past-Bank of Moscow), but in January 2021 was stopped. As indicated in the decision of the Prosecutor's Office of Zurich on the termination of the case, the Russian bank handed over the Swiss department inaccurate information that in Russia Ismailov was already convicted of several criminal cases. Moreover, after the closure of the case, Ismailov paid compensation in the amount of 15 thousand Swiss francs (about 1.2 million rubles).

The Investigative Committee has already responded to the refusal to issue a businessman. The head of the UK, Alexander Bastrykin, instructed to study the grounds for such a decision, as well as “take additional measures to issue” Ismailov. “The materials of the investigation leave no doubt about Ismailov’s involvement in crimes,” the department emphasized.

Separately, in the UK they said that Ismailov should “answer by Russian laws”, and reports on his political asylum “are perplexed” by investigators. At the same time, the UK has not yet received official documents from Montenegro.

At the same time, the lawyer Marina Rusakova assured: Ismailov hoped that all the charges would be removed from him. “[He] wanted to return back [to Russia],” she added.

Telman Ismailov was detained in Montenegro in early October in the International Order, which Russia issued. He was detained before resolving the issue of extradition. However, after the detention of Ismailov, the Parliament of Montenegro also proposed to investigate the businessman’s connections with the former authorities and the current President Milo Dzhukanovich. In 2009, the Montenegrin media wrote that Dzhukanovich (the prime minister who was at that time) visited the Mardan Palace Hotel in Antalya.

In addition, according to the sources of Kommersant, Ismailov lived freely for three years in the mansion in the center of Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, and did not hide from anyone, despite the fact that he was wanted by Interpol. This, most likely, is also explained by the personal connections of the businessman with Montenegrin officials, the Kommersant emphasized.

Pavel Merzlikin