Platon Lebedev
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Template:Cleanup-date Platon Lebedev (born 26 June 1963) is a Russian businessman and close associate of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Lebedev helped found Bank Menatep (Moscow) and served as President of the Bank between 1991 through 1995. In 1996, he was appointed deputy chairman of the Executive Committee of YUKOS and from 1997 - 1999, he continued to serve as both deputy chairman of the Executive Committee and president of YUKOS Refining and Marketing. From 1981 to 1989, Lebedev worked as Head of the Economic & Planning Department of V/O Zarubezhgeologia, the retail arm of the Ministry of Geology responsible for the trade of geological resources. Prior to working at Zarubezhgeologia, Mr. Lebedev earned a degree in Industrial Economics from Russia's Plekhanov Academy of National Economy.
Platon Lebedev is the former director of Group MENATEP, a holding company with assets primarily in oil and gas, mineral fertilizers, telecommunications and information technologies, and banking and financial services. Group MENATEP is the controlling shareholder of YUKOS Oil Company, one of Russia's largest oil companies.
When Lebedev was arrested on July 2, 2003 for charges that included tax evasion, failure to comply with a court order, and fraud, he was taken from a medical facility where he was receiving treatment from doctors for a chronic, active hepatitis.
Following the arrest, there was considerable public outcry, particularly from human rights groups, in protest of the brutal manner in which the government treated Lebedev. Prison authorities at the Matrosskaya Tishina detention center - where he was held for the duration of the trial - refused to provide specialists to care for him.
Currently, Lebedev is serving the remainder of his 8-year prison sentence at Kharp Special Regime Penal Colony, OG 98/3 in the Polar Urals, 1,193 miles from Moscow. A transfer to the Polar Urals is considered a measure reserved for perpetrators of grave crimes, as the effects of such a remote and climatically harsh area of Siberia tend to physically and emotionally wear on individuals.
Lebedev's placement is at odds with health protection measures for inmates, as his hepatitis is a condition that precludes a prisoner from serving a sentence in such extreme locations in the Russian Federation.