GUSINSKY TO BE INTERROGATED AT PROSECUTOR GENERAL’S OFFICE TODAY.

Media-Most head Vladimir Gusinsky has been asked to appear for questioning today at the Prosecutor General’s Office in connection with the case against him for alleged large-scale embezzlement. According to his lawyers, Gusinsky received the summons yesterday evening. On June 20, the Tverskaia intermunicipal court in Moscow rejected a complaint from Gusinsky’s lawyers that his June 13 arrest was illegal. The court argued that Gusinsky, who was released several days later after signing an agreement not to leave Moscow while he was under investigation, was no longer in custody and did not have the right to challenge his arrest and detention retroactively. Gusinsky’s lawyers argued that his arrest was illegal because the state had awarded the tycoon an Order of Friendship and thus he was eligible for the general amnesty announced by the State Duma in connection with the 55th anniversary of World War II. At the same time, Gusinsky’s lawyers appealed yesterday to the Prosecutor General’s Office to allow him to travel abroad to visit his family over the weekend. The tycoon’s lawyers suggested that Gusinsky could leave a monetary “deposit” to guarantee his return to Russia. Two leading politicians, Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky and Union of Right-Wing Forces leader Boris Nemtsov, lent their names to Gusinsky’s appeal. Gusinsky’s lawyer Genri Reznik said that the request might be answered today during Gusinsky’s interrogation (Russian agencies, June 20-22; Moskovsky komsomolets, June 23).

POLL: ONE IN FOUR MUSCOVITES “SATISFIED” WITH GUSINSKY’S ARREST.