Source: HRO.org (info), 04/10/11 

· Human rights defenders The Yukos affair Political prisoners 

· Public Prosecutor’s Office Moscow city & Moscow region 


Vasily Aleksanyan, former political prisoner, former executive vice–president of the Yukos oil company, has died. He was 39 years old. “Had it not been for the terrible conditions in the pre–trial detention facility, it is possible Aleksanyan’s life could have been saved,” says human rights defender Valery Borshchev. 

The television channel Dozhd was the first to broadcast that Vasily Aleksanyan had died, having learnt the news from Aleksanyan's family. Aleksanyan died at home in Moscow. 

Vasily Aleksanyan was arrested in 2006 during investigations into Yukos. The Chief Public Prosecutors’s Office charged him with two offences – money laundering and embezzlement. 

In September 2006, Vasily Aleksanyan was diagnosed as having HIV in a late stage of development. Aleksanyan’s health significantly deteriorated during his incarceration. He practically became blind; he also developed liver cancer and tuberculosis. Nonetheless, according to Newsru.com, the authorities refused to release him from prison. [Read more]