Fugitive Russian businessmen Yevgeny Chichvarkin, ex-CEO of cell phone retailer Euroset, said on Wednesday he was pleased for his former colleagues who were acquitted by a Moscow court earlier in the day, but ruled out plans to return to Russia.
Chichvarkin and several of his former colleagues, including Boris Levin, Euroset ex-vice president and his deputy Andrei Yermilov, have been charged with the abduction of the company's shipping agent in 2003. The agent had allegedly stolen large quantities of mobile phones.
Moscow City Court's jurors on Wednesday decided unanimously that prosecutors had failed to prove the defendants guilt. All the defendants were acquitted and released.
"The criminals who initiated this must be put on to trial. Those who have persecuted the company, who kept innocent people in prison for over two years, who robbed the market and who are, directly or indirectly, responsible for several deaths should be brought to justice," Chichvarkin told the Moscow-based Ekho Moskvy radio station.
Chichvarkin fled Russian for London in 2009, and six months later the Russian Prosecutor General's Office issued an extradition request for him.
On September 7, 2009, a London court ordered Chichvarkin's arrest, but then released him on bail. It is now considering Russia's extradition request.
MOSCOW, November 17 (RIA Novosti)
