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Spanish police release Browder as arrest warrant not valid — source

William Browder earlier wrote on Twitter that he had been detained in Spain on a Russian Interpol arrest warrant

William Browder EPA-EFE/ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSE

William Browder

© EPA-EFE/ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSE

MADRID, May 30. /TASS/. The Spanish police have released British financier William Browder, the founder of Hermitage Capital Management, because his arrest warrant is no longer valid, a police source told TASS.

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Financier William Browder says detained in Spain at Russia’s request

"It was confirmed that it is no longer valid, this is why he has been released," the source said.

Browder earlier wrote on Twitter that he had been detained in Spain on a Russian Interpol arrest warrant.

Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court earlier found Browder guilty in absentia of large-scale tax evasion estimated at more than three bln rubles ($48 mln) and sentenced him to nine years in prison. The same sentence was slapped on Browder’s business partner Ivan Cherkasov. In addition, the court upheld a lawsuit against Browder and Cherkasov worth 4.2 bln rubles ($67 mln). In January, Browder’s lawyers filed an appeal against the court’s ruling.

The Russian Prosecutor General’s office has many times requested Interpol to arrest Browder. The latest news about such a request came in December 2017.

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