Rostov regional court left journalist Tolmachev in custody

Today the Panel of judges of Rostov regional court brought a standing judgment on the verdict of the first instance court according to which journalist and publisher Alexander Tolmachev accused of extortion will remain in custody till February, 20, 2013.  
 
Alexander Tolmachev was detained on December, 20, 2011, and three days later he was taken into custody upon a judgment of Novocherkassk city court for accusation of extortion of one million rubles from a Novocherkassk businessman.   
 
The attorneys and the defendant himself asked to alter the form of preventive punishment for house arrest. However, Public Prosecutor Roman Kharitonov disagreed.   
 
“Tolmachev is accused of four especially grave crimes two of which he committed as member of a group by previous concert. According to the law, the time-limit of his custody makes 18 months, so, the term expires in June of 2013. The legal terms were observed”, Public Prosecutor declared.  
 
On one of the crimes incriminated to Tolmachev there are two entrepreneurs involved but they are at large on their own recognizance, lawyer Sergey Emelyanov states. According to lawyer Sergey Karpov, it is necessary to release the defendant from custody because of a critical decline in his health.   
 
Defendant Alexander Tolmachev himself asked the court to let him undergo a course of therapy and called the case initiated against him a “designer” one.   
 
 “If they want to get rid of me in this way I am only concerned about my family. But then the case will be even more shocking than Magnitsky’s one”, Tolmachev declared.