Russian conductor rejects child-rape charges in Thailand

Award-winning Russian maestro Mikhail Pletnev Thursday denied raping a 14-year-old boy in Thailand, but vowed to comply with an order to return for a court hearing in 10 days.

Pletnev Thursday rejected the charges, declaring he had done nothing wrong.

"I have committed no crime," Pletnev told reporters at a news conference just after his return to Moscow from Thailand.

Pletnev must report back to court every 12 days, meaning the maestro must return to Thailand by July 18. He dismissed fears that he planned to flee.

"On the 18th, I will be in Thailand because I have to return there. We are all in the hands of God," he told a Russian radio station.

Pletnev was released Tuesday after he posted 300,000 baht ($9,300) bail following his arrest in the Thai resort of Pattaya on a charge of raping an underage boy, a crime that carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

"I have been slandered by my next-door neighbor so that suspicion did not fall on him!" he was quoted as telling the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.

Pletnev, 53, founded the Russian National Orchestra in 1990 just before the break-up of the Soviet Union and his arrest has sent shockwaves through Russia's music world.

The Russian government sent an "urgent order" to its embassy in Thailand to look into the situation and provide consular assistance to Pletnev, the Interfax news agency reported Wednesday.

Pletnev's next scheduled engagement is a performance with his orchestra in Ohrid, Macedonia, on July 12 and the RNO has insisted its performance plans are as yet unchanged.

AFP