In Italy, they took into custody 39-year-old Ukrainian director Yevgeny Lavrenchuk at the request of Russia for his extradition in connection with charges of major fraud (part 3 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code). TASS reports this.
> Photo: eugene_lavrenchuk/Instagram
The chief director of the Odessa National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater is accused of major fraud (part 3 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code). The Tagansky Court of Moscow arrested him in absentia in July 2020. The press service of the court did not disclose the details of the criminal case against Lavrenchuk.
Earlier, the press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleg Nikolenko said that the director was arrested on December 17. According to him, the Consulate General of Ukraine in Naples provides Lavrenchuk with consulting assistance and provided him with a lawyer. On December 31, the consul visited the director and assessed his condition as satisfactory, and the conditions of detention — as acceptable.
According to the curator of the Free Eugene Lavrenchuk initiative group Marianna Gudich-Paliy, Lavrenchuk is accused of fraud in connection with “financial violations «eight years ago. She clarified that the director lived and worked in Russia until 2014. “Yevgeny’s family and close circle gave permission to publicly disclose the details of the case, realizing that [it] was fabricated and looks like political persecution,” Gudich-Paliy wrote on Facebook.