Russian musician Pletnev to return to Thailand for trial after end of foreign tour

MOSCOW, July 15 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian musician and conductor Mikhail
Pletnev will have to return to Thailand to face trial on July 18 for
alleged sexual abuse of minors.
A spokesperson for Pletnev's Russian National Orchestra, Svetlana
Chaplygina, told Itar-Tass on Wednesday that the musician had returned to
Moscow after a foreign tour and "as before, does not admits his guilt."
Pletnev said earlier that "this is a mythical story". "I did not
commit any atrocities in Thailand or elsewhere," he said.
The Thai court allowed Pletnev to leave the country and bound him to
be back by July 18.
"The court has allowed Pletnev to leave the country to take part in a
tour from July 8 through 18, as he asked," Andrei Dvornikov, head of the
embassy's consular department, told Itar-Tass.
According to Dvornikov, the court allowed the Pletnev, who is the
conductor of the Russian National Orchestra, to join his orchestra on a
tour. The tour program was translated into the Thai language and submitted
to the court to substantiate his plea to be let out of Thailand.
Pletnev, the founder of the Russian National Orchestra, was charged on
Tuesday with raping a 14-year-old boy and appearing in compromising
photographs with several others. He was released on a 300,000 baht (9,000
U.S. dollar) bail. Thai police said they had received a tip-off from a
detained Thai man who was involved in a prostitution ring. More
information was received from the child's parents, the child himself and
other witnesses, police maintained.
"I hope for a fair investigation that will confirm my being
blameless," he said. The pianist said he had not done anything wrong. "I
cannot imagine myself as a rapist," he added.
The musician has said he cannot think who could have initiated this
scandal. "I don't want to accuse anyone unreasonably," he said. Pletnev
also thanked the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian consulate in
Thailand for all-round support.
"I will tell you how things really were," Pletnev said. "I was
vacationing in Thailand which I visit often as I have property there. It
is a wonderful country." The musician said he had been dining in a bar
when policemen approached him and suggested the ride to his house. "They
inspected the house, found nothing, and then they escorted me to a police
station and set me free afterwards," he said.
"I have not yet received an official notification of the charges
proffered against me," Pletnev said. He said the next day he was amazed to
read in the Internet that he was accused of involvement in organising a
children prostitution ring. "I was even more amazed on reading in the
Internet that discs with peculiar contents had been confiscated from me.
There was no such thing," he said.
"So I finally decided to engage in my usual occupations - music, art,"
he said. He also sail he had never had an incident of this kind either in
Thailand or in any other country. "There was no such thing, ever," he
said. "I don't know what other provocations are in store for me, but I
will resist. Time will show," Pletnev said.
"I don't feel an outcast," he said. The pianist remarked, however,
that "such situations show as a litmus test who is your friend and who is
your enemy." Pletnev recalled what had happened to Mstislav Rostropovich.
"After he had given shelter to Alexander Solzhenitsyn in his summer
cottage, it was decided to expel the musician from the country," Pletnev
said. "Then many of those who had idolised the maestro began to avoid him."
Pletnev, the holder of state prizes of the Russian Federation and
Grammy Awards, was evasive when asked if the scandal would affect his
career. "A huge number of journalists were present at the airport when I
arrived in Moscow. And I complained that so many reporters never how up
when orchestras return from triumphant tours." The pianist also noted that
the scandal had nothing to do with his orchestra. "This matter concerns
myself alone, and I will be sorting this out," he said.
-0-zak/