Famous Russian musician arrested in Pattaya on pedophile charges

[Guest gwm4sian]

I always thought "previous" is London (UK) slang.

 

My sincere apologies for the incorrect attribution of "previous". I do indeed stand corrected.

[Guest luvthai]

He won't return and russia will not extradict him.

[Guest]

He won't return and russia will not extradict him.

 

I disagree. I think he will return and clear his name. I guess time will tell.

[Guest fountainhall]

He won't return and russia will not extradict him.

You obviously missed my post of yesterday morning. The Russian news agencies were then already reporting his return. Today The Nation has it. So he has returned and should be in Court about now, I guess.

 

Given that, I'd like again to ask gwm4sian about his statement of "previous" or "priors".

 

It appears he has "previous" as they seem to say in the USA

I've always been of the view that this is a set-up, based purely on what I have read about the case. But if there is indeed a history. I'd be more doubtful. Then again, if there is a history, I think it's far more likely he'd not have returned as that could make his defence much more complicated. So I'd like gwm4sian to substantiate his claim. Is this just yet another layer of unsubstantiated rumour, or is there a record of dates, places, Court rulings etc.?

[Bob]

I've always been of the view that this is a set-up, based purely on what I have read about the case. But if there is indeed a history. I'd be more doubtful. Then again, if there is a history, I think it's far more likely he'd not have returned as that could make his defence much more complicated. So I'd like gwm4sian to substantiate his claim. Is this just yet another layer of unsubstantiated rumour, or is there a record of dates, places, Court rulings etc.?

 

In at least the US legal profession (and the innumerable television cop shows), "priors" is just a shortened version of "prior convictions."

 

Neither I nor anybody here has a clue about whether this guy is guilty or not of anything. Apparently though, if the Pattaya Daily News can be believed, the gentleman has been accused of some tawdry behavior before. Pletnev article

[Guest fountainhall]

Apparently though, if the Pattaya Daily News can be believed, the gentleman has been accused of some tawdry behavior before.

What that article says is -

 

reports of indiscretions involving minors being reported by various Russian media sources.

If asked the question "Can the Pattaya Daily News be believed," I'd be hard pressed to say "yes" on every occasion. Interesting it got so many "facts" wrong in its early reporting of the case. But without sources, how can anyone give any credibility to this little tidbit? I have tracked this case quite a bit, but have seen nothing. Perhaps I need to learn Russian! But even then, how is it that none of the media in any other country, with all the resources and contacts at their command, have picked this up?

[Bob]

What that article says is -

 

If you only want to read the first two sentences, yes. Try the seventh paragraph.

[Guest fountainhall]

Try the seventh paragraph.

Sorry, I only looked at the opening. I agree. That seems to put a different light on it. Yet typing "pletnev child sex Hamovnicheskogo" in google, all I get is Pattaya Daily News! Typing it in another way, I get two articles. One in Danish which in the English translation refers to an article in a Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets; the other an extraordinarily long one in, I assume, Russian. But the latter appears to be an essay about technology. Perhaps that's a different Pletnev.

 

Regarding Moskovsky Komsomolets, wikipedia claims it is regarded as -

 

publishing sensational or provocative items on Russian politics and society

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moskovskiy_Komsomolets

 

Is this perhaps why other more serious newspapers printed nothing (at least, as far as we know?)

 

Whatever, given the lack of material available over the internet to back up such allegations, I still have my doubts. The story is so 'hot' internationally, I have to say again: how come no other media outlet, even of the National Enquirer type, has come out with this? Indeed, I do not believe I saw this in either the Bangkok Post or the Nation.

[Guest fountainhall]

The Pattaya Daily News is now carrying reports that the bail has been extended for another 12 days but no mention about his being allowed to travel outside the country. It then adds comments Mr. Pletnev made to the media in a written statement following his Court appearance. From a quick glance through the article, he understandably claims his innocence. He also has a go at the people who said he'd never return to Thailand -

 

Some people in authority and others expressed their views that I would never return to Thailand, I hope everyone now accepts that I am a man of honour and that I am a man of my word

He also seems to refute a number of errors in previous media reports - like the police actually finding no evidence when they searched his home, that he has never run a music school here, and his never encouraging young Thai musicians to study with him in Moscow. The interesting point about this last issue is that it turns out he did audition Thai musicians at the specific request of the late HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana. I presume he would not say this were it not true. So now the Royal Family has become indirectly involved. What I wonder, if anything, will this little twist add to the mix? It all gets even more curious.

 

Come to think of it, this has all the ingredients of a best-selling novel - sex crimes, famous musician, friend of Russian Prime Minister, Thai Royal Family, Gorbachev, Clinton and Sophia Loren also involved as they recorded Peter and the Wolf with Pletnev's orchestra . . . What's the next chapter going to reveal?

 

Russian Musician Pletnev Returns to Face Thai Courts | Pattaya Daily News - Pattaya Newspaper, Powerful news at your fingertips

[Guest]

 

Come to think of it, this has all the ingredients of a best-selling novel - sex crimes, famous musician, friend of Russian Prime Minister, Thai Royal Family, Gorbachev, Clinton and Sophia Loren also involved as they recorded Peter and the Wolf with Pletnev's orchestra . . . What's the next chapter going to reveal?

 

I totally agree. What a great novel this would be. But, we need a good ending to any book.

[Guest gwm4sian]

 

Given that, I'd like again to ask gwm4sian about his statement of "previous" or "priors".

 

 

So I'd like gwm4sian to substantiate his claim. Is this just yet another layer of unsubstantiated rumour, or is there a record of dates, places, Court rulings etc.?

 

 

I am more than happy to oblige. I posted the following quote

In 1989, Mr. Pletnev was acquitted in a high profile

[Guest fountainhall]

I am more than happy to oblige. I posted the following quote over a week ago, on Sun Jul 11, 2010 10:53 am on the following thread

Thanks. I rarely venture beyond this site and have never looked at the GTT site. Having now looked at your post, apart from Moskovsky Komsomolets which appears to be something of a scandal mag in Russia (along the lines of National Enquirer, I assume), there is no source quoted for your comments - merely a reprint of the Pattaya Daily News. And as I mentioned, a search on google picked up all of two articles in addition to that one in the Pattaya Daily News, one of which appears to involve a different Pletnev and a different subject matter. I am not saying your comments are incorrect. I am merely pointing out that there have been so many stories and so many inconsistencies that it is surely odd these allegations re Russia and Japan have not been picked up by any other media anywhere in the world. This is after all a huge global media story.

 

Perhaps a google search in another country might yield more results.

 

That said, one thing I do accept is that major international figures often employ PR people whose job it is to try and keep stuff like this out of the media. And being interested in classical music, I know of one other conductor about whom for decades there have been so many rumours regarding boys and major payoffs that at least one writer has included not-so-veiled references about him in a major book. Yet he has never figured in any court case anywhere (and he has never visited Thailand, I understand - luckily for him ).

 

When I was visiting Japan several times a year in the 1980s, it was common knowledge around the gay bars that American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein (of West Side Story fame) was a habitue on his regular visits (although I hasten to add there were never rumours about under-age goings-on). Even that information, though, surely interesting to some of the seamier tabloid media, never got out. His image as a family man was protected until well after his death. So it's possible that Mikhail Pletnev also has a PR team. But my hunch is that once one media source prints up a juicy story, no PR guys and no amount of cash can hold the press pack back from its feeding frenzy. Pletnev may be rich, but I cannot imagine he's anywhere near that rich!

 

But, we need a good ending to any book.

Sure - and it has to be of the fast-moving, plot-twisting, can't-put-the-book-down type of endings. But what? It's either case goes to Court, he wins or loses. But losing means a good few years of jail time, probably. Maybe there he meets the love of his life? Just a thought! Winning does not have quite the drama needed, at least not for international readers unused to this country's weird system of justice.

 

The only real alternatives are case withdrawn for lack of evidence - pay-offs, but we'll never know to whom and how much - or a desperate flying farang manoeuvre. Again, not enough drama. How about Sophia Loren flying in to charm the judge and they both fly away into the sunset? I like it! But naaaa! No-one would believe it!

[Guest luvthai]

Ok. I have to eat my words as I was wrong he did return.

[Guest voldemar]

I am very surprised that Pletnev returned to Thailand. He cannot be tried in Russia on allegation of having sex with underaged outside the country (unlike places like UK or US)

and Russia would never extradite "the outstanding Russian pianist" to Thailand (they quite pissed off with current Thai government on other issues). Of course, he now lives

in Switzerland but the latter rejected to extradite Polansky (whos affair with underage girl is well established) and it would be highly hypocritical for them to use different standards in this case. My view is that he has rather naive view about Thailand and made a major mistake (unless , of course, some kind of deal is already made between Russia and Thailand). I do not think it is in the interests of any of these two countries to create "international sex show".

[Guest fountainhall]

Ok. I have to eat my words as I was wrong he did return.

Don't be concerned about it. You're in a very large boat and few of the others, especially the officials of the Child Protection NGA (Non-Government Agency), have made any offer to eat their words or apologise to the man. Still accepting that we know little about the actual case and the issue of guilt or innocence of the accused, the law enforcement officers must now be a bit concerned that the web of accusations that surrounded the arrest seems to be being rather quickly stripped away. If this case dissolves without a conviction, with the world media paying close attention, I reckon a lot of people in authority will have a great deal of egg on their faces.

 

Of course, he now lives in Switzerland but the latter rejected to extradite Polansky (whos affair with underage girl is well established) and it would be highly hypocritical for them to use different standards in this case. My view is that he has rather naive view about Thailand and made a major mistake (unless , of course, some kind of deal is already made between Russia and Thailand). I do not think it is in the interests of any of these two countries to create "international sex show".

I think voldemar has hit the nail on the head. Neither country gains anything from a prolonged "sex show", no matter that it involves an underage youth. The longer it goes on, the more Thailand's reputation as a centre for pedophilia is enhanced - precisely the opposite of what the NGA and the country wish. And the greater the damage to Pletnev's reputation and career. So some sort of deal must surely be a likely outcome. Pity - for that spoils the ending of the novel!

[Guest fountainhall]

The statement Pletnev read to the media after his Court appearance yesterday is available on the internet - if anyone is interested.

 

http://www.mikhailpletnev.net/etc/Mikhail_Pletnev_statement.pdf

[Guest fountainhall]

If the story below is true, the next chapter of the novel has been written - and it has descended into farce. It appears that the Immigration Police Commissioner has ordered the cancellation of Pletnev's visa and is placing him on the Immigration blacklist. So if he's not in Thailand, he cannot get back to fulfil the Court order to appear at the next bail hearing. And if he is in Thailand, he'll be deported with the same result. Either way, it's a quite ridiculous, not to say damaging, development at this stage in the legal proceedings when Pletnev has shown he is prepared to fight the case. Seems clear now that the authorities really have flipped over this case and want it, quite literally, to disappear.

 

Confusion as Immigration Commissioner orders cancellation of visa and black listing of Russian Composer | Pattaya One News

[Gaybutton]

the next chapter of the novel has been written

I love it when the weird stories get even weirder.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

This sounds like a face-saving scheme. If they deport him and/or keep him from coming for his court date he can't win his case.

[Guest fountainhall]

This sounds like a face-saving scheme. If they deport him and/or keep him from coming for his court date he can't win his case.

Face-saving for whom? Certainly not the accused. To me this development has just increased the stench of Pletnev having been set-up. By whom? I don't know, but clearly people who did not expect him to come back at the beginning of this week.

 

What all readers of this thread must surely agree on is that statements like the following -

 

"The Thai immigration bureau has blacklisted him on the grounds that his behaviour is detrimental to Thailand," Major General Pansak Kasamsan, deputy commissioner at the bureau told the agency.

 

"His Thai visa was automatically revoked after his name was blacklisted," he said. "He would eventually be deported whether it goes to trial or the charges are dropped."

Pletnev is to leave Thailand for his mum?s birthday | INTERNATIONAL | The Moscow News

 

- are an outrage. At a time when the Foreign Minister is telling the world that Thailand is "on the path to becoming a nation with strong democracy", I hope the international media which has been keenly watching this case will now switch its focus from condemning a man who is denied the opportunity to prove his innocence (should that be the case), to how Thailand dispenses what it calls 'justice'. Deportation whether innocent or guilty? This whole affair stinks.

[Gaybutton]

This whole affair stinks.

I really wasn't very interested in this case until this occurred. Now I would love to know the explanation as to why this step was taken. If he would have been found guilty, then why would Thailand not want him sent to jail like any other pedophile? If he would have been found not guilty, what would Thailand have had to lose by exonerating an innocent man? There must be more to the story than has been published.

 

Why would Thailand want this case to just fade away? How far up the ladder did it go before this decision was announced? It would be difficult to believe such a move would have been made in a high profile case like this without it first going to the very top. As far as I know, doing things this way is unprecedented in Thailand. It's probably unprecedented anywhere. I've never heard of any government anywhere, ever in history, revoking a visa in a manner that effectively quashes prosecution of a case, especially a high profile case. As far as I know, this is a first.

 

Now I'm waiting to see a warrant issued for his arrest because he failed to show up every 12 days to report to the court. That sounds nuts.

 

This turn of events definitely gets a prominent position on my "I Don't Get It" list.

[Guest fountainhall]

As far as I know, doing things this way is unprecedented in Thailand. It's probably unprecedented anywhere.

I am not sure how long it takes Ministries to make decisions like this. One thought I had was that in Pletnev's statement issued to the media on Monday and posted in this thread, he mentions his connection to the late HRH Princess Galyani, the much loved sister of the King. As I read it there is absolutely nothing in the statement that in any way could be considered lese majeste, and as far as I can see on the internet, that part was only published in the Pattaya Daily News. Yet, might that connection, plus his other links to Presidents and VVIP's around the world, have scared the authorities so much they once again massively over-reacted?

 

But then, I reckoned the decision must have been in the works for at least some days. I just don't believe instant reactions like this are possible in a bloated bureaucracy. So there has to be another explanation and I agree with GB that someone pretty high up must have taken the decision.

 

But that raises another question: why would the decision be taken before the Immigration Chief had received the information he had requested from the Child Protection Agency - as was admitted at the press briefing on Wednesday morning. This is after all their case.

 

Then I wonder: how will Russia react to this? I can't imagine they want the case in limbo so that one of their top international artists remains 'suspect'. After all, Pletnev is on at least one of the Russian President's committees/task forces. How will Medvedev and Putin feel? My gut reaction is that this cannot have been a deal between the two countries. It makes no sense to me that Russia would want a deal. Certainly the deal makes no sense for Pletnev if he is indeed innocent. So if it was a unilateral decision by Thailand, what on earth might the Pletnev case throw up that the powers-that-be here do not want the world to know?

 

The twists and turns are so extraordinary, it's almost hard to believe its happening. And I guess, sadly, we'll never know the truth.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Face-saving for whom? Certainly not the accused.

Face-saving for Thai officials. Maybe they have realized they have made a mistake and can't find him guilty, so the best thing to do would be to keep him out of court.

[Guest voldemar]

I do not think it is very difficult to interpret the events: they feel, they have enough evidence to try him in court but realize that it will be such an international circus that it will be very difficult to handle it. I think the decision was made on the very top and since , formally speaking, they cannot interfere with judicial branch, the easiest way is to revoke his visa. In my view, Pletnev will be fine: after all he was ready to stand the trial but was not given the opportunity. Now, what if Thaksin call the bluff and return to Thailand?

[KhorTose]

Face-saving for Thai officials. Maybe they have realized they have made a mistake and can't find him guilty, so the best thing to do would be to keep him out of court.

 

This is what Fountainhall and I have both been saying from the start. I am really surprised that they took this way to get out of their dilemma, as it makes the despots running this country look more ridiculous then usual.