Vasily Georgievich Aleksanyan (, ; 15 December 1971 – 2 October 2011) was a Russian lawyer and a former Executive Vice President of

Yukos OJSC "Yukos Oil Company" (, ) was an oil and gas company based in Moscow, Russia. Yukos was acquired from the Russian government by Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Bank Menatep during the controversial "loans for shares" auctions of ...

oil company. He headed the company's legal department and represented

Mikhail Khodorkovsky Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky (, ; born 26 June 1963), sometimes known by his initials MBK, is an exiled Russian businessman, Russian oligarchs, oligarch, and Russian opposition, opposition activist, now residing in London. In 2003, Khodork ...

when the Kremlin accused the oil tycoon and his managers of money laundering and embezzlement in 2006. Aleksanyan was arrested and charged as an accomplice to tax evasion and money laundering. After refusing to allegedly provide false evidence against other Yukos executives, he served two years in prison while suffering from advanced cancer and

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

. After a decision by European Court of Human Rights, he was released on a bond on 12 January 2009, dying from complications of AIDS on 2 October 2011.

Lawyer and businessman

Vasily Aleksanyan graduated from

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

and the

Law School A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for b ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

as a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

. In 1992 through 1994 he worked for the USA law firm

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP (known as Cleary Gottlieb), formerly Cleary, Gottlieb, Friendly & Cox and Cleary, Gottlieb, Friendly, Steen & Hamilton, is an American multinational law firm headquartered at One Liberty Plaza in New York Cit ...

. In 1995–1996 he was the head of the legal department for the British Investment firm

SUN Group Sun Group is an Indian media conglomerate, based in Chennai. It was founded by Kalanithi Maran in 1992. The Sun Group, besides television media, operates 48 FM radio stations, two daily newspapers, five magazines, a DTH satellite service and ...

. Since 1996 he worked as the head of the legal department for

. On 1 April 2006, amidst the legal troubles over Yukos company, his position was elevated to that of Executive Vice President, replacing Roman Khomenko. His new position was accepted by the shareholders on 4 April. His main stated goal in the new role was to streamline the corporate governance, achieving direct control over the assets of the company from the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Yukos headquarters bypassing the

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

based offices of Yukos RM and Yukos EP. The decision was quite important for the struggling company as the Moscow-based offices bluntly refused all the supervision from London obeying orders of the government-controlled

Rosneft PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, extraction, production, refining, transport, and sale of petroleum, natural gas, and pet ...

instead. According to Aleksanyan, the lost control over the Moscow offices led to financial irregularities, including e.g. surfacing of counterfeit 10 billion

ruble The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are s ...

promissory note A promissory note, sometimes referred to as a note payable, is a legal instrument (more particularly, a financing instrument and a debt instrument), in which one party (the ''maker'' or ''issuer'') promises in writing to pay a determinate sum of ...

. On 6 April 2006 Aleksanyan was taken into custody as a suspected accomplice to tax evasion and money laundering by Yukos. According to prosecutors, Aleksanyan was an accomplice to the

embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

of more than 12 billion rubles. The arrest was based on the testimonies of Svetlana Bakhmina, a subordinate of Aleksanyan arrested in 2004. According to Aleksanyan, Bakhmina's testimonies were false, and were taken from her under pressure.

In prison

After his arrest Aleksanyan started a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

, insisting that his arrest without court hearings was illegal. He aborted his strike on 27 April 2006. During Aleksanyan's imprisonment, his health rapidly deteriorated due to

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

-related illnesses. He became almost blind and developed

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

of the

liver The liver is a major metabolic organ (anatomy), organ exclusively found in vertebrates, which performs many essential biological Function (biology), functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of var ...

with

metastasis Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spreading from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, ...

into the

lymph node A lymph node, or lymph gland, is a kidney-shaped organ of the lymphatic system and the adaptive immune system. A large number of lymph nodes are linked throughout the body by the lymphatic vessels. They are major sites of lymphocytes that includ ...

s. He also became ill with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. Despite the grave medical situation demanding urgent

antiretroviral treatment The management of HIV/AIDS normally includes the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs as a strategy to control HIV infection. There are several classes of antiretroviral agents that act on different stages of the HIV life-cycle. The use of mul ...

and

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

in a hospital, he was denied both. The prosecutors also ignored three injunctions by the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

on 27 November 2007, on 6 December 2007 and on 20 December 2007. According to Aleksanyan, the prosecutors were demanding false evidence against other Yukos executives from him before starting his medical treatment. On 26 December Aleksanyan made public a statement asking for help from human rights advocates. Eleven days into a hunger strike in his favour by

, Aleksanyan was transferred from a pre-trial prison to an oncological hospital on 8 February 2008. On 20 October 2008 Simonovsky Court of

approved continuing pre-trial detention of Alexanyan despite his grave illnesses (he had

and

and his

spleen The spleen (, from Ancient Greek '' σπλήν'', splḗn) is an organ (biology), organ found in almost all vertebrates. Similar in structure to a large lymph node, it acts primarily as a blood filter. The spleen plays important roles in reg ...

was surgically removed). On 8 December 2008 Moscow City Court reversed the decision of Simonovsky Court and decided to release Alexanyan under a bond of 50 million

rubles The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are su ...

(approximately $2 million). He was to be released after the money was paid. Human rights advocates

Lev Ponomaryov Lev Aleksandrovich Ponomaryov (, 2 September 1941) is a Russian political and civil activist. He is an executive director of the all-Russian movement "For Human Rights." He is a member of the Federal Political Council of Solidarnost, and was de ...

and

Lyudmila Alexeyeva Lyudmila Mikhaylovna Alexeyeva (, ; 20 July 1927 – 8 December 2018) was a Russian historian and human-rights activist who was a founding member in 1976 of the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group and one of the last Soviet dissidents active in post-S ...

welcomed the court decision but expressed concern whether Alexanyan would be able to pay this sum of money.

Release and death

On 22 December 2008, the European Court of Human Rights made its decision over the ''Aleksanyan v. Russia'' case. The court found Russia in violation of four articles of

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is a Supranational law, supranational convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Draf ...

and obliged Russia to release Alexanyan immediately without any bond. On 12 January 2009, after a bond of 50 million

was paid, Aleksanyan was released. But he was repeatedly summoned to attend court hearings, where he wore a face mask and could barely stand up during the proceedings. The case against him was only dropped after the statute of limitations ran out. Aleksanyan died at his home in Moscow on 2 October 2011, due to complications from AIDS.Former Yukos executive dies of AIDS - Yahoo! News
/ref>

References

External links

26 December 2007
From Legal Eagle to Dying in a Cage
by Alexander Osipovich. ''

The Moscow Times ''The Moscow Times'' (''MT'') is an Amsterdam-based independent English-language and Russian-language online newspaper. It was in print in Russia from 1992 until 2017 and was distributed free of charge at places frequented by English-speaking to ...

''. 7 February 2008. Page 1.
List of State Employees participated in persecution of Aleksanyan
by

Novaya Gazeta ''Novaya Gazeta'' (, ) is an independent Russian newspaper. It is known for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs, the Chechen wars, corruption among the ruling elite, and increasing authoritarianism i ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aleksanyan, Vasily 1971 births Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights European Court of Human Rights cases involving Russia Harvard Law School alumni AIDS-related deaths in Russia Moscow State University alumni Russian people of Armenian descent Lawyers from Moscow Yukos 2011 deaths People associated with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton Russian businesspeople in the United Kingdom