Mass media: Swiss Federal Criminal Court questioned impartiality of the prosecutor involved in Gulnara Karimova’s case

The Federal Criminal Court (FCC) made two important decisions in the case of Gulnara Karimova, who is serving a sentence in the Zangiota women’s prison colony, the newspaper “Nasha gazeta” reported.

According to the newspaper, recently, the FCC has made two decisions. The first decision canceled the sale of Karimova’s three supercars, Le Temps writes. Cars Mercedes-Benz SLR2DR, Bentley Arnage and Range Rover Sport V8, the total value of which exceeds 1 million francs, still remain in the estate in Cologna, acquired by Karimova in 2009 for 18.2 million francs. The FCC stressed that the keys to cars were confiscated in 2013, but since then, the prosecutor's office was not interested in their fate. 

The second decision of the court concerns disqualification of the prosecutor Patrick Lamone, who had been involved in this case for many years, in connection with his unofficial visit to the capital of Uzbekistan in September 2018. He visited Tashkent with Confederation Attorney General Michael Lauber and other prosecutors. Having received no explanation regarding this trip, the defense indicated its doubtful nature. As a result, Patrick Lamone, who had a direct influence on the course of the case, will have to switch to other investigations.

For its part, the prosecutor's office stressed that the purpose of the trip was to clarify the conditions of mutual assistance during the investigation. The FCC concluded that the visit by the investigator could have been helpful in his work, but upon returning to Switzerland, there was no new information in the case.

As for the frozen hundreds of millions of francs, they will remain in the blocked accounts. Last July, Gulnara Karimova’s attorney Grégoire Mangeat sent a request to the Confederation’s prosecutor’s office to unblock the 500 million needed to “cover various expenses related to the defense” of Karimova Tribune de Genève writes. The prosecutor's office explained its refusal by the fact that, according to the results of investigations, there is a high probability that the frozen funds could have been obtained by criminal means. In addition, the prosecutor's office recalled that Grégoire Mangeat is an appointed lawyer, and his work in this matter is paid for by the state.

In early April, the defender visited the Zangiota women’s prison colony Nr.21 in the Tashkent region, where Gulnara Karimova was transferred on March 5 from the house arrest. He announced this on his Twitter page.

The website of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Uzbekistan notes that the serving of a sentence of restriction of liberty for 5 years “according to the choice of the convict herself” was appointed at the place of residence of her daughter Iman. She was transferred to the colony because of a violation of restrictions: among other things, she was forbidden to leave the house, use communication means and the Internet.