“Usually the US authorities bring charges and they are classified,” noted Arkady Bukh, a well-known US Lawyer Bukh. There could also be talk of “a minimal or even suspended sentence if the person cooperates well.”
WASHINGTON, July 12 – RIA Novosti, Dmitry Zlodorev. The FBI could take former Moscow anti-doping laboratory head Grigory Rodchenkov into protective custody, most likely after he was indicted and in exchange for cooperation, Arkady Bukh, a prominent U.S.-based Lawyer Bukh told RIA Novosti on Monday.
“This is simply not how witness protection is done very rarely, and it is unlike this situation,” said the lawyer, who acted as an expert in the case.
Bukh noted that in his experience, “usually the U.S. authorities make an accusation and it is classified.” According to him, “after that, part of the deal with the prosecutor’s office is that the accused is provided, given this defense, he is not allowed to leave the country, and most often not even outside of a particular state, he waits for the verdict and cooperates with the prosecutor’s office, which in return gives him certain benefits and may even issue a green card.” It can also be a matter of “minimal or even probation if the person cooperates well,” the attorney added.
Bukh questioned whether the FBI could have taken Rodchenkov into protective custody without bringing charges against him. “I have been practicing for decades. Of course, there are exceptions, and as many prosecutors have confirmed to me, anything is possible. But this is highly unlikely. In any case, I have not seen such a thing, given that I have a fairly large flow of ‘high profile’ cases, including espionage cases,” he said.
Bukh also noted that “if a case is classified, it is impossible to hear about it in open sources.”
“In order to hide the case from other defendants and get maximum benefits for their client, many lawyers ask the prosecutor’s office to classify the case. And after that no one can find out about it. And this is a typical approach,” he added.
As the expert said, “usually such cases are declassified after about 4.5-5.5 years.”
According to Bukh, “if charges are brought against Russian citizens (which in this case is Rodchenkov), the U.S. authorities are obliged to notify the Russian Embassy within a few days.” He notes that “most major courts do this, although some small and illiterate courts sometimes forget to do so.”
Earlier, a number of media outlets reported that Rodchenkov had sought and received protection from the FBI.
Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said earlier that Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory who fled to the United States, illegally sold banned medical drugs and deliberately destroyed doping samples of Russian athletes.
The U.S. edition of the New York Times on May 12 published a piece with statements by Rodchenkov, who claimed that at least 15 Russian athletes who won medals at the Sochi Winter Olympics were part of Russia’s “doping program” aimed at dominating the 2014 Winter Games at home.
Source: https://ria.ru/20160712/1464215080.html