Deceased: Former General Prosecutor’s Office division head who tried to get false testimony from Alexey Pichugin

June 18, 2021

Vladimir Lyseiko, former head of General Prosecutor’s Office Division for Investigating Specially Important Cases, died recently in Moscow from complications of the coronavirus. Radio Liberty noted that Lyseiko gained particular notoriety when he became investigative lead in the case against Yukos Oil Company, as a result of which the company was destroyed, and its founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky was sent to prison. At the time, Kommersant newspaper wrote that the case was unprecedented as far as the number of investigators brought in. Division head Lyseiko, who headed over 50 staff investigators, nevertheless succeeded in having his friend, investigator Salavat Karimov, transferred [to Moscow] from Bashkirya, and allowed Karimov to form a special investigative team of people from the same geographic area.

In 2008, Alexey Pichugin said Lyseiko demanded that Pichugin testify against Leonid Nevzlin, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Mikhail Brudno, and other company leaders. “Otherwise, he said, I’m looking at life in prison, but if I agree, I’d be taken abroad and protected under the witness protection program,” Pichugin said.

Source: Radio Liberty, Human Rights in Russia portal.