31/05/2018
Hermitage Capital Management founder Bill Browder was released.
Businessman Bill Browder who was once the biggest foreign investor in Russia, but has become a vocal critic of the country and its president, was briefly arrested in Spain on a Russian arrest warrant on Wednesday.
"Urgent: Just was arrested by Spanish police in Madrid on a Russian Interpol arrest warrant," Browder tweeted early Wednesday. "Going to the police station right now."
Jamison Firestone*, former partner and head of Sergei Magnitsky, head of the law firm Firestone Duncan commented:
"The craziest thing is that Bill was invited to Spain at the request of the Spanish court to testify against Russians accused of money laundering who received part of the amount stolen from the Russian budget as part of the scheme discovered by Sergei Magnitsky. So it's crazy that the Spaniards detained him. I'm quite sure that some mistake has occurred and everything will end with the release of Browder, because the Russian warrant for arrest is by nature obviously political."
Browder was released after spending an hour in custody, because the warrant was no longer valid.
Shortly after leaving the police station, Browder tweeted: "Good news. Spanish National Police just released me after Interpol General Secretary in Lyon advised them not to honor the new Russian Interpol Red Notice. This is the 6th time that Russia has abused Interpol in my case."
A Russian court late last year sentenced Browder to nine years in prison on fraud and tax evasion charges. Russia placed him on the Interpol wanted list in 2017, and has used the system to seek his arrest several times.
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