Russia Seeks to Arrest Russian Lawyer Granted US Asylum

Investigators have appealed to the Presnensky Court of Moscow to issue a warrant for detaining lawyer Boris Kuznetsov in absentia for divulging state secrets, press secretary Nina Yurchenko told RAPSI on Monday. Kuznetsov has been granted political asylum in the United States. Investigators claim that when the Supreme Court considered stripping former member of the Federation Council and representative of the Republic of Kalmykia Levon Chakhmakhchyan of his parliamentary immunity, Kuznetsov, who had pledged not to reveal secret information in that case, photographed an FSB reference note regarding the tapping of Chakhmakhchyan's telephones which was marked "secret." Kuznetsov first showed the picture to a colleague and then sent it to the Constitutional Court. When Kuznetsov was charged with revealing state secrets in 2007, he asked for asylum in the United States. The court issued a warrant for detaining Kuznetsov in absentia, but the warrant was withdrawn in 2009. In 2008 Levon Chakhmakhchyan was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for attempted fraud. He was released on parole in January 2012.

http://www.rapsinews.com/judicial_news/20130402/266893938.html