Court rules on bail application of 15 Russians Feb 19

FIFTEEN Russians who were, last year, remanded in prison custody over alleged illegal importation of arms and ammunition into the country  could not leave prison custody as they expected on Thursday, as the hearing for their bail application could not hold as earlier scheduled before a Lagos State magistrate’s court.
The Russians are Zhelyazkov Andrey aged 53; Savchenko Sergrey aged 36; Chichikanov Vasil, 49; Varlygin Igor aged 48, Komilov Alexandre, 32; Lopatin Alexey, 38 and Baranovskly Nikolay 50.
Others are Mishin Pavel, 31, LLia Shubov, 33, Dmitry Bannyrn, 40, Alexander Tsarikov, 44, Kononov Sergel, 44, Korotchenko Andrey, 23, Vorobev Mikhail, 40 and Stepan Oleksuik, 52.
At the resumed hearing of the matter on Thursday before Chief Magistrate Oyindamola Ogalla, the prosecutor, Mr Effiong Asuquo, a superintendent of police, from Special Fraud Unit, urged the court to stand down the matter as the Attorney-General of the Federation had signified his intention to take over the matter, and the court consequently agreed.
But when the matter was called at 11 a.m. and the Attorney-General was not around, Asuquo made an oral application that the defendants be remanded till Tuesday, February 19, when they would be arraigned and the charge read to them for their pleas to be taken.
However, Mr Segun Sipeolu, lead counsel for the defendants, told the court that the prosecution only served them both the hearing and arraignment notice on Thursday morning and was contradicting himself by first urging the court to adjourn the matter till February 25 and latter applied that the matter should be adjourned till February 19. He, therefore, urged the court to hear the bail application pursuant to Section 264 of the Administration of Criminal Justice law.