Peskov confirms Putin promised human rights activist Alexeyeva to consider pardoning ex-senator Izmestyev

Lyudmila Alekseyeva file photo

MOSCOW. July 20 (Interfax) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva to consider the possibility of pardoning former senator Igor Izmestyev, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“Yes. The president said that it is possible and that it will take time,” Peskov told Interfax, when asked whether Putin had indeed promised it.

During the president’s visit to her house, Russia’s oldest human rights activist, Alexeyeva, asked Putin to pardon the former senator from Bashkiria Izmestyev, sentenced to life in prison.

“I told the president: ‘That’s not a gift, that’s a request. Do a good deed, pardon Igor Izmestyev. […] I know, Vladimir Vladimirovich, when you promise something, you certainly keep it.’ He said: Yes, I promise,” Alexeyeva said via a video link-up during a meeting of the Human Rights Council on Thursday.

The human rights activist said she pointed out during her conversation with the president that “a pardon is not an act of justice, but of mercy.”

“And then I will make Igor Izmestyev’s mother happy with this news tomorrow,” she said.

As reported, Putin personally congratulated Alexeyeva on her 90th birthday, coming to see her in her apartment on Thursday.

In December 2010, the Moscow City Court found Izmestyev guilty of setting up and leading an armed gang, plotting a murder of two or more people and a terror attack and committing other crimes and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The court also granted the victims’ claims worth 7.8 million rubles.

In 2011-012, Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General investigated a money-laundering criminal case against Izmestyev, which culminated in the seizure of the Russian ex-senator’s accounts in Swiss banks.

In 2012, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office sent an inquiry to Switzerland requesting the repayment of damages from the seized assets in favor of Russian victims, pursuant to the verdict passed by the Moscow City Court.

In April 2015, Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said in his report that Izmestyev’s assets have been returned from Switzerland.

Comment