NICE (Sputnik) — On Thursday, Nice prosecutor Jean-Michel Pretre has told Sputnik that a French court had freed Russian Senator Suleiman Kerimov on bail and barred him from leaving France amid a tax evasion probe.
"He won’t be put in custody under certain conditions. He is to stay in the Alpes-Maritimes department, report to the police several times a week, pay 5 million euros in bail, hand over his passport and avoid any contacts with people I cannot name," Pretre said.
Earlier, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that Kerimov enjoys diplomatic immunity. The Russian Foreign Ministry has sent a note of protest to French authorities and summoned France's charge d'affaires over his detention.
Meantime, a source in the Federation Council, familiar with the situation, has told Sputnik that Russian Federation Council lawmaker had entered France without a diplomatic passport, as he was not on a business trip.
