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Russia seeks arrest in absentia for Magnitsky boss Browder

Russia Beyond The Headline

Russian law enforcement agencies asked the court to issue an arrest warrant in absentia for Hermitage Capital co-founder and CEO William Browder at a court hearing on Wednesday.

Russian law enforcement agencies seek to declare Hermitage Capital co-founder and CEO William Browder internationally wanted as an investigation into his alleged embezzlement of Gazprom shares is currently going on. A ditective was announced at a court hearing on Wednesday, at which police asked the court to issue an arrest warrant in absentia for Browder.

Judge Pyotr Stupin read out the directive at a hearing at Moscow’s Tverskoi Court on Wednesday.

The Russian Criminal Procedure Code stipulates that arrest in absentia cannot be ordered for a person before he or she is declared internationally wanted.
The directive on declaring Browder internationally wanted is dated April 8.

As a rule, if a court grants a motion on arresting a person in absentia, the investigative agency, in this particular case the police, passes the necessary documents to the National Central Bureau of Interpol. After analyzing these documents, the bureau forwards them to the Prosecutor General’s Office, which is supposed to take the relevant procedural steps.

The Interior Ministry told Interfax that, if Browder’s arrest in absentia is endorsed, he will be placed on the international wanted list.

“As the accused Browder is evading arriving for investigative procedures, even though he has been notified about this necessity using various methods, the investigation has filed a request with a court on considering his arrest in absentia as a pretrial restrictive measure,” it said. “If a court grants this request, the mechanism of declaring Browder internationally wanted will be launched,” it said.