On March 7, 2023, the Court of Appeal of the French city of Aix-en-Provence ruled to impose a fine on Mukhtar Ablyazov for failing to appear in court. The court refused to accept Ablyazov’s arguments about political persecution as an excuse for not appearing.

Mukhtar Ablyazov was supposed to appear in the court of Aix-en-Provence on June 15 and 16, 2021 for interrogation. At the last moment before the meeting, Ablyazov, through his lawyer, announced that he did not intend to follow the instructions of the French court, arguing his decision with fear of political persecution.

Later, BTA filed a motion to impose a fine on Ablyazov due to his failure to appear in court. In the appellate instance, the court found that Mukhtar Ablyazov had already appeared on a similar call in 2018. Ablyazov was also deprived of refugee status, first in England and then in France, so he could not use this status to fail to appear in court. At the same time, earlier the investigating judge appointed Ablyazov a measure of judicial control, which, among other things, includes the appearance at the request of the court. Mukhtar Ablyazov violated this measure by not appearing at the summons of the court of the city of Aix-en-Provence.

On March 7, 2023, the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal ruled that Mukhtar Ablyazov had not complied with the court’s request to appear, in connection with which he was fined in favor of the French state.

BTA Bank welcomes the fair decision of the French court. Mukhtar Ablyazov and his accomplices repeatedly refused to honestly participate in trials and violated numerous court rulings, including in the United States, for which they were prosecuted and fined.

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