Russia’s Investigative Committee has initiated two criminal cases against UK-based Russian tycoon, Boris Berezovsky, over his public calls for riots, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said.
“Main Investigations Directorate initiated a criminal case against Boris Berezovsky over the placement on the Internet in April 2012 his speech in which he called for riots,” Markin said.
He said that Berezovsky “publicly called on Russian citizens to participate in mass disorder with violence; namely, to hold mass illegal actions in public places in Moscow, in order to prevent the inauguration of the legitimately elected Russian President, and his entry to the Kremlin on May 7, he promised to give money reward for the president’s detainment.”
The second case initiated against Berezovsky is over his publishing of an open letter on Ekho Moskvy website, Markin said. In his open letter Berezovsky publicly called for riots, Markin added.
In November 2007, a Russian court sentenced Berezovsky to six years in jail in absentia for stealing millions of dollars from the Russian airline carrier Aeroflot in the 1990s.
In June 2009, he was sentenced to a further 13 years in absentia for stealing thousands of cars from carmaker Avtovaz, also in the 1990s.