Summarized/translated from Echo of Moscow and REGNUM
The criminal case against directors of Sofex, a chemical manufacturing and distribution company, is in its seventh month. Aleksyei Protskii and Yana Yakovlyeva were arrested in July of 2006 and charged with making illegal narcotic substances. They are charged with 36 counts of making ethyl ether, lack of licenses, money laundering of 15 million rubles, and forgery of documents. Officials from the State Office of Control of Narcotic Substances allege that the accused sold ethyl ether to drug dealers who used it to make synthetic narcotics.
Defense attorney Yevgenii Chyernousov called the charges “simply absurd.” According to Chyernousov, if anyone sold ethyl ether to drug dealers, it was the clients of the company who resold the substance. Moreover, the statement by Office of Control of Narcotic Substances that ethyl ether is “a medicinal drug” is invalid, because only the health ministry has the right to declare it as such. Ethyl ether is commonly used as a solvent for paint, military complexes which make up some of the company’s clients use it to start-up diesel engines in freezing temperatures.
Civil leaders and government deputies have voiced support for Protskii and Yakovlyeva, who also have support among workers and representatives of the chemical industry. According to Yana Yakovyeva’s father, who holds a doctorate in the technical sciences, this case is by its nature “illegal.” He said that he never thought he would live to see the day when “you will live in delirium, trying to prove that two times three is six, but not seven…”
Relatives and supporters of the accused feel that prosecution of the directors threatens the viability of the chemical industry in Russia and in general is detrimental to the national safety of their country. On February 2nd, the judge accepted the prosecution’s petition to continue to keep the two directors in custody until April 11, 2007 despite the fact that the court has already finished hearing the case.
This story made me think…Why is it that we never hear of the Drug Enforcement Agency going after chemical companies in the United States? May be because 1) they know it’s unconstitutional, and 2) they know that it will bring to a crashing halt the billion dollar chemical manufacturing industry. Like many other countries, Russia has a serious problem when it comes to narcotics and substance abuse, but trying to solve it by going after an ethyl ether manufacturing company is like trying to solve an E. coli outbreak in hamburgers by arresting cows on a farm.
Disclaimer: Though a native speaker of Russian, I am not a professional translator and do not
guarantee the accuracy of my translations. I am not affiliated with any organization and the opinions expressed
on this blog are strictly my own.
Tags:
ethyl ether,
narcotic substances,
Russia,
Russian health ministry
Trackback URL for this entry.
Add to:
Blink It | |
Digg it |
My Google |
My AOL |
Reddit |
Spurl |
Y! MyWeb
RSS Feed
Write a comment