WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd November, 2021) A pre-trial hearing in the case of ballet instructor Ivan Poroshin, accused of molesting a minor, is scheduled for January 10, Russian Consul General in Houston Alexander Zakharov told Sputnik on Monday.
"The (pre-trial) court hearing is scheduled for January 10, and we hope that the trial will not be postponed, and he will not have to wait for this," Zakharov said. "We provided Russian-speaking lawyers to the family ... we ensured that a Russian-speaking translator was assigned to him so that he could familiarize himself with the case materials and the charges," Zakharov said.
According to the court's database, the hearings in the Poroshin case were originally scheduled to start on November 18, but were postponed until January 25. A pre-trial conference is scheduled for January 10.
There are eight criminal episodes in the Poroshin case, the first is kidnapping, and the rest are related to sexual conduct with a minor.
Poroshin is a teacher at a ballet school in Arizona. He is accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old student. According to the local branch of the NBC channel, citing the police, Poroshin admitted to having had sexual contact with the minor.
"At present, Poroshin is being held in the Lower Buckeye Jail in Phoenix. During our contacts with the Sheriff's Office, as well as the judicial authorities of Maricopa, we raised a number of issues of concern to the family of the detainee, at the same time demanding strict observance of his legal rights," Zakharov also told Sputnik.
He said the Russian Consulate General is closely monitoring the situation.
"We would like to note that taking into account the existing consular practice and precedents, it is very difficult for a man accused by a woman of sexual assault in the United States to prove his innocence, despite the fragility of the 'evidence' and, at times, absurdity of the alleged acts," Zakharov said.
"An example is the case of 82-year-old Russian tourist S.Ya. Shumov, who was found guilty of 'harassment' in 2019 by a court in Denver (Colorado), despite his considerable age and extremely dubious reputation of the 'victim'," he said.
