National Court judge continues to question alleged members of the Russian Mafia arrested in Spain
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By h.b. - Jun 16, 2008 - 7:43 AM
Baltasar Garzón has released four of the twenty people arrested last Friday across the country.

National Court Judge, Baltasar Garzón, has released four of those arrested as part of the ‘operación Troika’ against the Russian mafia in Spain, sending another person to prison and extending the detention time for a further 13 people after his questioning carried out over the weekend.

The interrogations continue today of the twenty people in total who were arrested in Madrid, Palma de Mallorca, Alicante, and Málaga. Those still in custody are being held in the cells of the National Court in Madrid, and the judicial order for the case will be made public later today.

It is now reported that at least 15 million € worth of assets have been impounded in the case, but that sum does not include the bank accounts of those arrested.

Among those being held is Gennadios Petrov, considered by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor as the head of one of the most dangerous Russian mafias in the world, and who was arrested in his mansion at Calviá on Mallorca.

Garzón travelled to Málaga where he ordered one of the people arrested in the city, Spanish woman Leocadia Martín, to jail without bail on money laundering and other charges, and extended the detention time of Svetlana Kousmina, a Russian woman, wife to one of the men arrested in Marbella as part of the case. In Málaga provinces searches were carried out in Marbella, Estepona, Málaga City, Torrox and Nerja with another one of the heads, Alexander Malyshev being arrested at his home in Frigiliana.

Police have impounded several luxury cars which belonged to some of the accused, along with 12 million € in cash and dozens of yachts and luxury villas. The investigation by the Anticorruption Prosecutor and the Judicial Police started more than two years ago and has resulted in 20 arrests so far.
All those arrested face charges of illegal association, money laundering, and the falsification of public, mercantile and tax documents, which under the Penal Code means sentences of between six and nine years.

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