Appeal against Russian ex-diplomat`s sentence launched in U.S
A former Russian UN official who has been sentenced to four years and three months in prison in the U.S. for money laundering said his lawyers have launched an appeal against the sentence.
"My lawyers, in line with U.S. procedures, have given official notice of the appeal. The appeal will be presented over a period of one month, as the defense will be putting forward new arguments," said Vladimir Kuznetsov, who has been under house arrest in New York for the past two years.
Kuznetsov, 49, was sentenced earlier this month by a district court and ordered to pay a total of $73,000 in fines. He denies the charges against him.
"The defense team`s additional arguments will relate to infringements of my constitutional rights, including the right to diplomatic immunity," he said.
The ex-diplomat, who worked as a Russian expert in the United Nations Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, was arrested in September 2005 after borrowing $300,000 from a Russian colleague, allegedly knowing that the funds had been acquired by criminal means.
He was found guilty by a jury in March.
Kuznetsov previously held diplomatic immunity as a UN employee, but after former secretary general Kofi Annan revoked the status, the FBI were able to arrest him.
|
