Gusinsky decision due today
A senior prosecutor yesterday called for the release, on bail, of Russian former media baron Vladimir Gusinsky, who was arrested at Athens airport last Thursday on an international warrant. The Council of Appeals Court Judges is to take a final decision today on Gusinsky, 51, who was ordered interned in Korydallos Prison on Monday pending processing of an extradition request expected from Moscow. By yesterday, according to government spokesman Christos Protopappas, Athens had received no such request. Gusinsky claims Russia’s $250 million fraud charges are politically motivated. Yesterday, an appeals court prosecutor recommended that Gusinsky be freed on bail of 60,000 euros and banned from leaving Greece. An Israeli passport holder and a senior figure in the World Jewish Congress, Gusinsky has proved an embarrassment to Athens, which came under pressure from the US and Israel not to extradite the former tycoon – who angered the Kremlin through his media’s critical coverage of Russia’s Chechen war.
