WASHINGTON -- An innocent American businessman, Mark Seidenfeld, was arrested in Russia in December 2005 and has been deported to Kazakhstan to face false criminal accusations. He is being told by the Kazakhs who have brought this about that the only way out of this trap is for him to pay a ransom of between $2.5 and $5 million. His trial in Kazakhstan is being repeatedly postponed in order to deny him an opportunity to prove his innocence in a Kazakh courtroom.
The US State Department is being of little or no aid to Mark Seidenfeld, saying it cannot become involved in a business dispute between an American businessman and his former Kazakh business partner.
This week a new blog site has been formed which presents a complete explanation of the bogus claims against Mark Seidenfeld. Please see http://savemark.wordpress.com/ The site includes original documents (in Russian), and explanations and time lines which prove that Mr. Seidenfeld is innocent and his attacker, Mr. Murat Zhunussov, is having a vicious revenge upon him.
An effort is being made to organize a boycott of Mr. Zhunussov's company, "Ducat", one of the larger Kazakh telecommunications companies. In this material it is crystal clear that Mark is the victim of an outrageous campaign to bring false charges against him.
The abuse of Kazakh and Russian legal process in the proceedings against Mark is obvious. It is also obvious that the US State Department has clear grounds, and has long had clear grounds, to strongly protest the extradition of this US citizen from Russia to Kazakhstan to face false charges.
This is particularly the case because the original charges against Mark not only have never been at all credible, but the accusation that he stole $40,000 has now even been dropped by the Kazakh Prosecutor's Office!
Now, in May 2007, after having been in jail for a year and a half in Russia and Kazakhstan, believe it or not, this US citizen is sitting in a Kazakh jail while the Kazakh Financial Police and Prosecutor and Mr. Zhunussov decide what to charge him with!
The sole charge that was the basis for his extradition from Russia to Kazakhstan is off the table. Accordingly, Mr. Seidenfeld's extradition from Russia to Kazakhstan was invalid and his continued detention is invalid and illegal under Kazakh and international law.
The outrage needs to be brought to a close!
Save Mark Seidenfeld, Boycott Ducat
Please contact Derek Bloom at (202) 342-5266 or at bloomda@gmail.com for additional information
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