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Russian senator Kerimov allowed to make brief trip to Russia — media

Kerimov has been allowed to go to Russia to visit his close relative

PARIS, January 19. /TASS/. Russian senator and businessman Suleiman Kerimov, who was detained in France on suspicion of tax evasion, has been granted a right to make a brief trip to Russia, Nice prosecutor Jean-Michel Pretre told France Presse on Friday.

According to Pretre, Kerimov has been allowed to go to Russia from Friday to Sunday to visit his close relative. He is to return to France no later than Monday.

Kerimov’s detention

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

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Kremlin vows to make every effort to defend interests of senator detained in France

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.

According to Pretre, the pre-trial investigation will last "at least six months."

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