Kasparov to testify in France against Ablyazov’s extradition

    By Lori Hinnant
    Russian chess master and political activist Garry Kasparov said Mukhtar Ablyazov is in danger if a court rules he should be extradited fr om France.
    Kasparov spoke Thursday as he prepared to testify in an appeals court hearing on the man's fate.
    The case of Mukhtar Ablyazov has been tangled up in courts in at least five countries since he fled Kazakhstan amid the nationalization of BTA Bank, which he had led as chairman. Ablyazov was arrested in southern France on July 31, 2013, on an international warrant and has been jailed ever since, as Russia and Ukraine seek his extradition over billions missing from the bank.
    Once a member of Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev's inner circle, Ablyazov turned against his mentor to found an opposition movement.
    Forensic accountants said Ablyazov embezzled billions from BTA as chairman, funneling the money into offshore entities.
    Courts in Britain, wh ere he has political asylum, have ruled in BTA's favor for billions of dollars, but Ablyazov has not paid.
    He fled Britain just ahead of a ruling to jail him for 22 months for contempt.
    Kasparov said regardless of the legal issues, Russia's case against Ablyazov is political.
    "If Mr. (Vladimir) Putin finds it appropriate, I have no doubt that the courtroom in Russia, if God forbid Mr. Ablyazov is extradited there, will be a kangaroo court," said Kasparov, who himself was prosecuted in Russia over his political activism.
    The chess expert alleged that Putin will use Ablyazov "as a political pawn in his games with Nazarbayev,” the Associated Press reports.
    Kasparov said he had little knowledge of the legal details of the case, but would offer testimony on the likely fate that would await Ablyazov should he be extradited to Russia, according to Agence France Presse.
    "I think it will be a joke, a very bad joke, if the court accepts Russia's assurance about Ablyazov's safety," said Kasparov.
    Drawing on his knowledge of the treatment of other political opponents at the hands of Russia, he said the extradition of Ablyazov would be a "gross violation of his rights."
    Kasparov said Russia had no qualms about reneging on its international obligations, referring to Moscow's role in "sponsoring a war" in eastern Ukraine.
    Both Kasparov and Ablyazov's daughter Marina -- also present at the press conference -- said there was no doubt Moscow would hand the oligarch over to Kazakhstan.
    He said Putin "needs Nazarbayev's support in Crimea, Ukraine and major geopolitical issues."
    Kazakhstan is part of a Russian-led economic union, along with Belarus, championed by Putin as he seeks to restore ties between the remnants of the Soviet Union.
    Ukraine's rejection of this union in favour of closer ties with the EU -- the subject of a bloody revolution in Kiev last winter -- prompted Russia to annex Crimea and throw support behind rebels in eastern Ukraine.
    Ablyazov is accused of having stolen billions of dollars in state and investors' funds while leading the Kazakh BTA Bank, which also had interests in Ukraine and Russia.
    In January a French court approved his extradition, ruling that Russia's request should take priority as the scale of the embezzlement alleged by Moscow ($5 billion) was far greater than that alleged by Ukraine ($400 million).
    However in April the Court of Cassation (an appeals court that rules on points of law) blocked the extradition and the matter will now be heard again by a lower court in the southeastern city of Lyon.
    One of Ablyazov's lawyers Bruno Rebstock said while not illegal, it was unheard of in France for witnesses to be called in extradition cases.
    "The court could refuse" he said, but the legal team was hoping that Kasparov's notoriety and experience of Russia would convince the court otherwise, according to Agence France Presse.