Wednesday, June 19, 2013

FG withdraws illegal arms importation charge against 9 Russians

THE Federal Government, on Tuesday, withdrew charges against nine out of 15 Russians that are facing charges for illegal arms importation before Justice James Tsoho of the Federal High court sitting in Lagos.
The discharged Russians are Zhelyazkov Andrey, Savchenko Sergel, Varlygin Igor, Lopatin Alexey, Baranovskly Nikolay, Llia Shubov, Dimitry Bannyrh, Alexander Tsarikov and Kononov Sergel.
With this development, the remaining six, consisting of Chichkanov Vasily, Varlygin Igor, Komilov Alexander, Lopatin Alexey, Mishin Pavel, Korotchenko Andrey, Vorobev Mikhail, and Stepan Oleksiuk, are to continue to enjoy the bail granted them while their trial lasts.
When the case was called on Tuesday for their scheduled arraignment, the prosecutor, Mrs J. I. Igurnumbe, informed the court about the charge withdrawal without stating any reason for striking out the names.
She prayed the court that the vessel, ‘MV Myre Seadiver’, used by Russians also be withdrawn from the charge and be replaced by its owner ‘Moral Security Group Limited’, as the vessel will be used as an exhibit in the matter.
Counsel for the accused, Chukwuwinke Okafor, opposed the prosecution’s application of replacing the vessel with the owner in the charge, urging the court to discountenance the prosecution’s application and deal with the matter before it.
Justice Tsoho in his ruling, withdrew the charge against the nine Russians and ordered the prosecution to serve the accused with the  prove of evidence of the matter.
The matter was adjourned till Friday, June 21, 2013 for mention.
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