MOSCOW, March 5 (RAPSI) – Businessman Yevgeny Petrachenko, 72, who stands charged with not paying salaries to his employees, has been released from a detention center in St. Petersburg and put under house arrest after intervention of Russia’s business ombudsman Boris Titov, the ombudsman’s press office has told RAPSI.

“It is a victory that he was released and allowed to wait for a trial in humane conditions,” the press-service said. It was noted that several entrepreneurs of advanced age and poor health remain in detention.

Commenting on Petrachenko’s case, the civil ombudsman for protection of businessmen’s rights, Alexander Khurudzhi, said that for the first time in his practice an entrepreneur of these age and health was put in detention. He noted that a court chose to ignore the fact that Petrachenko is disabled.

The criminal case against the defendant was launched in July 2017. According to investigators, Petrachenko did not pay 1.2 million rubles ($21,000) to his employees. In September 2017, he was indicted, and in November he was put in detention.

Ombudsman Titov met the businessman in January 2018 and forwarded a report on detained entrepreneurs to President Vladimir Putin and to the Prosecutor General’s Office leading to Petrachenko’s release on March 2.