The Tinubu magistrate court
sitting in Lagos on Thursday
ordered that,the 15 Russians
who were arrested by
Nigerian Navy on Oct. 2012
over an alleged illegal
importation of firearms and
ammunition in the country
be further remanded in
prison custody till Feb 19,
when their bail application
would be heard.
The presiding magistrate
said the extension is to
enable the accused to be
formally charged before the
Lagos High Court by the
Attorney General of the
Federation.
The 15 accused are
Zhelyazkov Andrey, 53,
Savchenko Sergrey, 36,
Chichikanov Vasily, 49,
Varlygin Igor, 48, Komilov
Alexandr, 32, Lopatin Alexey,
38, Baranovskly Nikolay, 50,
Mishin Pavel, 31, LLia Shubov,
33, and Dmitry Bannyrn, 40.
Others were Alexander
Tsarikov, 44, kononov sergel,
44, Korotchenko Andrey, 23,
Vorobev Mikhail, 40 and
Stepan Oleksuik, 52.
The hearing of the bail
application which was
previously fixed on Thursday
Feb.14 could not hold as the
prosecutor, Mr Effiong
Asuquo (a superintendent of
police from the Special Fraud
Unit) urged the court to
stand down the matter, that
the Attorney-General of the
Federation had declared his
intention to take over the
matter.
However the Attorney -
General could not show up in
the court till about 11am
when the matter was called
again,during which the
prosecutor made a verbal
application asking the court
to further remand the
accused and adjourn the
matter till Tuesday 19
February.
He held that the accused
have filed a bail application
before the Lagos High Court
and that the matter has
already been fixed on
Tuesday Feb.19, for hearing.
Reacting to this, the counsel
firm to the Russians, Mr
Segun Sipeolu and Edidiong
E.Idiong prayed the court to
release the accused on liberal
terms,pending when the
Attorney General and the
police would be ready to file
charges adding that the
accused have been in
government custody for the
past four months.
Consequently, the presiding
magistrate Oyindamole
Ogalla(Mrs) ordered that the
15 accused persons be
remanded in prison custody
till February 19, saying that
the date is the most
appropriate since the
accused have filed an
application for bail before
the Lagos high court while
the prosecutor has equally
asked the court for
adjournment of the the
matter till the same date.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/02/15-russians-to-remain-in-prison-custody-till-feb-19/