Facing a trial which could jail him for up to five years, businessman Alexander Lebedev has issued an appeal for bloggers to find and photograph the missing “victim” of his famous TV talk show attack.
A Moscow judge has allowed the controversial court case to proceed without 40 year old property mogul Sergei Polonsky after the hearing was told that he in unable to leave Cambodia where he is on strict bail over allegations of kidnapping and assault.
But there is growing evidence that he left Cambodia some weeks ago, and may be now in Israel.
Earlier reports suggested he was in Switzerland and Luxembourg.
Mr Lebedev, who co-owns Russian investigative newspaper Novaya Gazeta and whose son owns the Evening Standard, is accused of “hooliganism motivated by political hatred” in striking Mr Polonsky.
There are fears that the trial is itself political, with powerful interests seeking to have him jailed in revenge for anti-corruption campaigns.
In his blog, Mr Lebedev wrote last night: “I am addressing fellow bloggers from Israel: have you seen our “victim” by any chance, somewhere on the Mediterranean coast, between Ashdod and Tel Aviv?
“Somewhere near the town of Yavne, for example?
“If you meet him photograph him, please. He is keenly waited at the trial.”
If Mr Polonsky is found to be relaxing in Israel - or in Europe - it could have a decisive impact on the trial, and he could be ordered to attend by the judge.
Photographs posted by Mr Polonsky on the web in the past week have shown him in a luxury seaside hotel or penthouse, riding a bike, and in a wooden bath tub, captioned “Good Morning Earthlings”.
The pictures show “what he thinks about the judicial system in Russia”, said Mr Lebedev, who claimed that should he return to Moscow, Mr Polonsky may also face criminal investigations on other matters.
Mr Lebedev’s legal team want to question ex-paratrooper Mr Polonsky on his allegedly differing accounts of the TV fracas given by the property baron, and argue it is unfair that the trial’s star witness, who initiated the proceedings, is absent.
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In written testimony to the court, Mr Polonsky claimed that but for his military training he could have suffered serious injury of death from three punches from Mr Lebedev.
He claimed former KGB officer Mr Lebedev had used ‘specialised training and his skills in martial arts’ as he struck him.
Mr Lebedev will call a martial arts expert to dispute this account, and he also denies any political malice against Mr Polonsky.
