Sex-case musician gets bail

Activists voiced concern yesterday that a famous Russian pianist and conductor arrested in Pattaya this week for alleged child-sex offences may flee and not return after a court allowed him bail and permission to travel overseas.

Mikhail Vasillievich Pletnev - a Grammy award winner and founder of the Russian National Orchestra - was arrested on Monday for allegedly raping a 14-year-old Thai boy who stayed at one of his homes in the beachside resort.

Pletnev's whereabouts are now unknown since a court allowed him to be released yesterday on a bail guarantee of Bt300,000.

The Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported that the internationally acclaimed musician had been allowed to leave the country after vowing to return in 12 days.

"There was a court ruling. The court allowed Mikhail Pletnev to leave the country on condition of an extra bail and bound him to show up in court on July 18," Andrei Dvornikov, head of the embassy's consular department, was quoted as telling Russia 24 TV, Itar-Tass said.

Pletnev and his Thai lawyer sought permission for the conductor to leave the country so he can take part in a tour with his orchestra.

Police in Pat-taya said the musician was detained on Monday following a tip from Traipob Boon-masong, a 40-year-old Thai charged with child rape for alleged involvement in a child prostitution ring. Police said they confiscated pictures of young boys, some alongside foreigners.

Evidence against Pletnev included a statement from the alleged victim, police Lt-Col Omsin Sukkanka told Associated Press. "The boy said he had lived in Traipob's house for a year and was raped by Pletnev twice. The first time was in the middle of last year and the second early this year," Omsin said. He added that Pletnev had appeared in some photographs with the alleged victim, but no suspicious activity was depicted.

The musician, who could face up to 20 years in jail and a fine of up to Bt40,000 if found guilty, denied the charge. In telephone interviews with AP, Pletnev described what happened to him as a "misunderstanding".

"I have no idea how the charges came about," he said. "But I more or less know where they came from."

Sompong, a business associate who gave only his first name, told AP Pletnev was a victim of blackmail, but gave no details.

Pletnev, 53, won a Grammy award in 2005 and was the founder of Russian National Orchestra, the country's first independent orchestra. He has two luxury homes in Pattaya, including one at Soi Siam Country Club, plus a res-taurant, a badminton club, other businesses, plus jet skis.

He has performed twice at the Thailand Cul-tural Centre, with the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra.

Supphakorn Noja, director of the Child Protec-tion and Devel-opment Centre, said he feared the court's decision not to ban Pletnev from travelling overseas would allow the Russian to jump bail. Supphakorn said Traipob ran a website providing child prostitution for gay males and that there could be more than 40 boys in Chon Buri involved.

The investigation into the ring began when a complaint was lodged by parents who said their 11-year-old son was raped by Traipob, who allegedly recorded the act.

Traipob has been charged with four offences: rape of a minor under 15 years of age; providing sexual gratification for others through prostitution; employing minors under 15 to perform lewd acts; and human trafficking of minors under 15.

Pletnev was quoted by the Pattaya Daily News on Tuesday as saying police had searched his house but they had not found nude photos of boys on his computer.

He said reports that said he was a paedophile were distorted and untrue.

In the interview, Pletnev said he had never been involved in illegal or illicit dealings with children and he assumed he was a suspect due to his connection with Traipob. He said he paid Traipob to take care of his home and did not know what type of business Traipob was running.

Pletnev did not deny that there might be indecent materials on the computers as he was frequently not at home and gave access to the houses to Traipob.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, the Russian ombudsman for child rights, Pavel Astakhov, was quoted by the state news agency RIA Novosti as saying the Investigative Committee, Russia's top investigative body, "should look into the

possibility of a criminal case".