Court denies new medical examination to Lebedev

Moscow’s Meshchansky court on Monday refused to release MENATEP head Platon Lebedev from under custody and denied him a new medical examination that was requested by his lawyers.

The court also rejected the lawyers’ appeal for the suspension of hearings pending Lebedev’s medical examination.

The court said it did not see grounds for ruling in favour of the defence.

In addition, the presiding judge agreed with state prosecutor Dmitry Shokhin who claimed that if released Lebedev could run away from justice, obstruct the investigation, and put pressure on witnesses, many of who depend on him financially.

Earlier, Lebedev’s lawyers demanded that their defendant should undergo additional medical examination.

Lawyer Yevgeny Baru, on behalf of all of Lebedev’s lawyers, asked the court on Monday to issue a decision “on proper examination of Lebedev in an independent health care institution”.

He questioned the results of the medical examination conducted by physicians at the pre-trial detention centre.

Baru said Irish medic John O’Grady of the Institute of Liver Studies at King's College Hospital in London, had doubts about the diagnosis. According to O’Grady, Lebedev may be suffering from cirrhosis or cancer.

The lawyers also asked the court to cerate proper conditions for their defendant during the examination and namely release him from under custody.

The lawyers also asked the court to suspend the hearings for the duration of the examination.

Lebedev’s lawyer Yelena Liptser continued to insist that her defendant was being held in custody unlawfully. However the court ignored the plea and only included it in the case.

However prosecutor Dmitry Shokhin strongly objected to a new medical examination of Lebedev.

“Doctors have taken the Hippocratic Oath, and therefore there is no reason to doubt that if such a need arises for a medical examination, including of Lebedev, they can conduct such an examination properly,” he said.

According to Shokhin, doctors constantly monitors Lebedev’s health and find it “satisfactory”.

The prosecutor questioned the integrity of the medical conclusions made by O’Grady that had been presented to the court by Lebedev’s lawyers.

Shokhin spoke against “the inclusion of these documents in the case” because “there are all reasons to doubt their authenticity, and the information contained in them need to examined most thoroughly.”

He also objected to the incorporation into the case of a statement made by Lebedev’s daughter and brother, in which they said that they are ready to act as guarantors is the court agreed to release Lebedev.

Shokhin said, “The question of guarantees may not be resolved positively because these people are relatives of the defendant and therefore they may not be trusted in the way that should be taken into account.”

HERE