DUSHANBE, January 6, 2012, Asia-Plus — Rustam Hukumov’s defense lawyer, Konstantin Rybalov, says his client, the son of Tajik Railways head Amonullo Hukumov, has been acquitted and released in connection with non-participation in crime.
The defense lawyer announced on his blog that the board of the court of the Moscow oblast on December 28 considered supervisory complaint filed by him.
In a ruling handed down on December 28, the board of the Moscow regional court overturned the verdict passed by the Shchyolkovo court on Rustam Hukumov.
We will recall that the Shchyolkovo court (Moscow oblast) sentenced Rustam Hukumov to 9½ years in prison on September 15, 2010. The sentence followed his conviction on the charge of drug smuggling.
According to some Russian media outlets, this case arose last autumn, when a Tajik court sentenced two pilots working for Rolkan Investment Ltd to 8 ½ years in prison each for flying illegally into Tajikistan and smuggling and smuggling aircraft parts. Some of them that time published allegations that by convicting the pilots the Tajik authorities tried to make pressure on Russia to release Rustam Hukumov. Russia demanded reconsideration of the pilots’ case and they were released on November 22. The Tajik court reduced the pilots” sentences to 21/2 years each. With the subtraction of two years under the amnesty, and six months for time served, the immediate release of the pilots was secured.
Russian Federal Investigation Agency reported that Rustam Hukumov, who is citizen of Russia, and three his friends were detained in June 2008 with nine kilograms of heroin in the Moscow oblast. Investigation lasted for two years and he was sentenced to nine years. Narcotics had reportedly been transported to Russia by rail.
In the meantime, Rustam Hukumov’s defense lawyer noted that members of the broad of the Moscow regional court considered the supervisory complaint and came to a unanimous opinion that the verdict against Rustam Hukumov was based on assumptions and allegations and that his guilt had not been proved during the trial.
The Moscow regional court board overturned the verdict against Rustam Hukumov and he was acquitted and released in connection with non-participation in that crime, Mr. Rybalov noted.
“Some journalists and political scientists have connected this case with Tajik-Russian pilot scandal, but I think this connection is farfetched,” said the lawyer. “I had been filing complaints in various instances since 2010 until we reached the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The Supreme Court recognized my complaint as justified and instituted review proceedings, sending the complaint to the board of the Moscow regional court. All this work had been launched long before the Tajik-Russian pilot scandal and I had not received any instructions from Russian or Tajik public bodies on launching that work.”
