DUSHANBE, October 10, 2013, Asia-Plus – Defense lawyers of Tajik known businessman Zayd Saidov intend to ask to summon Vladislav Surkov, an aide to the Russian president, as a witness.
One of Zayd Saidov’s defense lawyers, Shuhrat Qudratov, says they want to ask him whether he was really witness of the act of giving more than US$1 million to their clients.
According to him, the name of Vladislav Surkov was mentioned by one of participants in the trial. The participant in the trial, who is citizen of Ukraine, mentioned Surkov while testifying on September 27, the lawyer said. Qudratov refrained from giving further details.
Meanwhile, some Tajik media have reported that that Ukrainian citizen asserted that he had allegedly given more than 1 million U.S. dollars to Zayd Saidov in the presence of Vladislav Surkov. The act of giving the money allegedly took place at Surkov’s dacha.
Tajik anticorruption agency reported in June that Zayd Saidov borrowed 1.2 million U.S. dollars from Ukrainian citizen Ivan Koretsky in May 2012 and repaid only 300,000 U.S. dollars in December 2012. Saidov allegedly used the rest of the money for his personal goals.
According to Wikipedia, Vladislav Yuryevich Surkov (born Aslambek Andarbekovich Dudaev), 49, is a Russian businessman and politician. He was First Deputy of the Chief of the Russian Presidential Administration from 1999 to 2011, during which time he was widely seen as the main ideologist of the Kremlin. Surkov is seen as the main architect of the current Russian political system, often described as “sovereign” or “managed” democracy. From December 2011 until May 8, 2013 he served as the Russian Federation”s Deputy Prime Minister. Since September 20, Surkov has been an aide to President Putin.
We will recall that Zayd Saidov went on trial in Dushanbe on September 12. The trail is being held in the pretrial detention facility of the State Committee for national Security (SCNS) behind closed doors.
Zayd Saidov, who is the leader of Tajikistan”s unregistered New Tajikistan party, was arrested on May 19 and charged with bribe-taking (Article 319 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code), abuse of office (Article 314), financial fraud (Article 247), extortion (Article 250), polygamy (Article 170), rape (Article 138) and sexual relations with a minor (Article 125).
Saidov denies any wrongdoing and says his case is politically motivated. He said earlier this year at a court hearing that he believes he is being persecuted for his decision to set up his political party.
