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French court clears Russian senator Kerimov of accusations — lawyer

Suleiman Kerimov, a member of Russia’s Federation Council upper parliament house, was detained at the Nice airport overnight to November 21

PARIS, June 28. /TASS/. A court in the French city of Aix-en-Provence has cleared Russian senator and businessman Suleiman Kerimov of all accusations, Kerimov’s lawyer Nikita Sychyov told TASS on Thursday.

"All the accusations against Kerimov were lifted in France on Thursday. He will be given back his passport and the bail paid. No accusations are any longer advanced against Kerimov in France," Sychyov said.

The Russian senator’s lawyer said he would not comment on the court’s ruling or disclose the details of the judgment or its reasoning.

The investigative chamber of the court in Aix-en-Provence declined to give any information on this issue, stating that it would be provided only upon the completion of the case, in which Kerimov was only one of the suspects.

Kerimov’s detention

Suleiman Kerimov, a member of Russia’s Federation Council upper parliament house, was detained at the Nice airport overnight to November 21. Right after his detention, Moscow informed Paris that as a senator, he had diplomatic immunity. However, the French foreign ministry said that Kerimov’s diplomatic immunity was applicable only to his official duties.

On the following day, Kerimov was charged with money laundering and tax evasion. Nice Prosecutor Jean-Michel Pretre said that Kerimov would "have to hand his passport over to the police, pay a bail of five million euros and cut off his contacts with individuals included in a list that we cannot make public." Kerimov was left at large but prohibited from leaving the Alpes-Maritimes department of the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region of France until the investigation was over.