Russian magnate Lebedev faces murder in jail: Son
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Billionaire Kremlin critic and media magnate Alexander Lebedev risks being assassinated if he is sent to jail in Russia over a punch-up on a television show last year, his son said today.
Evgeny Lebedev told BBC television in London, where he runs the family's British newspapers, that his father was braced for a prison term after being charged with hooliganism in September, but feared for his life.
"He thinks he probably will (go to jail)," Evgeny Lebedev said.
"What's worse, we also believe there's been a contract taken out on his head in case he does go to jail, by some sinister elements that he's crossed in the past with his anti-corruption campaign.
"It's an easy place for somebody to be taken out. It's very concerning."
Evgeny Lebedev said his father could face up to seven years in jail, a sentence he called "completely out of proportion" to his actions.
He urged the Russian authorities to protect his father.
"I really hope the government in Russia would pay attention to this because if something happens to him of course they would be the ones to blame even if they don't have anything to do with it," he said.
The Lebedevs own Britain's The Independent and Evening Standard dailies and part-own Russia's most critical opposition newspaper, Novaya Gazeta.
Alexander Lebedev, a 52-year-old former KGB agent, punched Sergei Polonsky, an outspoken real estate tycoon, during an argument on a Russian talk show on September 16, 2011.
He faces charges of hooliganism, which carries a maximum five-year jail term, and assault, which carries two years.
The full charge of hooliganism and assault motivated by political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred, or hatred of a particular social group, earned three members of punk rock group Pussy Riot two years in jail earlier this year.
A month before the charges were announced, Alexander Lebedev said he intended to wind down his Moscow holdings because of unrelenting pressure from the Kremlin-run security services after repeated raids on his main bank.
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