An agreement was signed today between Russia and Maldives for cooperation in criminal matters at a ceremony at Traders Hotel.
Visiting Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika – also Russian Justice Minister – signed on behalf of Russia while Prosecutor General Muhthaz Muhsin signed on behalf of the Maldivian government.
Details of the agreement have not yet been shared with the media.
Muhsin told local media that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) would also be signed today to facilitate training for Maldivian prosecutors in Russia and allow Russian prosecutors to work in the Maldives.
The agreements were arranged by former Prosecutor General Ahmed Muiz during his tenure – which ended twelve months ago, Muhsin added.
In August, a 25-year-old Russian woman caught smuggling 2kg of cocaine was deported before the conclusion of her trial at the Criminal Court, which had been stalled due to language barriers.
In July, the Russian Foreign Ministry had expressed outrage over the arrest of Roman Valerevich Seleznyov, 30, from the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) and called it a “kidnapping” by the U.S. Secret Service.
Home Minister Umar Naseer later said the Maldivian government would have “acted differently” if the home ministry had been aware that the alleged hacker expelled on July 5 was the son of a Russian lawmaker.
Selezynov’s father Valery Seleznyov called on Russian authorities to impose economic sanctions on the Maldives and reportedly offered US$50,000 for evidence proving his son was detained by US intelligence agents.
US officials have maintained that Maldivian authorities acted under their own laws, expelling Seleznyov from the country before his subsequent arrest.
Seleznyov is accused of bank fraud, identity theft, and other cyber crimes. The US have described him as “one of the world’s most prolific traffickers of stolen financial information”.
Russia currently ranks fifth in terms of the number of tourist arrivals to Maldives, and is one of the fastest growing tourist markets in the world. More than 33,000 Russian tourists arrived during the first five months of 2014,
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Since the Roman case fiasco, I see the government has been trying to patch things up with the Russians.
Of course, Russia has a fine legal system. If Putin wants you found guilty, then that's it you're guilty.
The Russian system will work well for the dictatorship of Maldivian politics regardless of innocence.