A Moscow court Wednesday ordered the release of the chairman of the collapsed investment fund MMM, Sergei Mavrodi, who has spent the last two months in jail on charges of massive tax fraud.


Within hours of the ruling, a crowd of some 200 supporters gathered outside the Matrosskaya Tishina (Sailors' Rest) prison, where Mavrodi has been held since he was detained on Aug. 4. But as darkness fell, the prison gates remained shut. Mavrodi's lawyer eventually emerged to explain that his client would not be released until Thursday.


"Mavrodi will stay in prison because of the lack of some bureaucratic signatures and the lack of a seal," Eduard Safronsky said. "It was done on purpose. It's illegal, because the district court passed the decision to free him. We were ready to give the court's decision to the prison administration, and we did. But the administration decided to delay Mavrodi's freedom."


A prison official also came out, seemingly intending to address the crowd, but then turned back without any comment, impatiently pushing onlookers aside. A court spokeswoman said Mavrodi was free to leave the prison, but could not leave Moscow. She did not explain on what grounds the court decided to release Mavrodi.


Campaigners for his freedom, who last month collected thousands of signatures to register Mavrodi as a candidate in a Moscow by-election to the State Duma on Oct. 30, had argued that he should be allowed out to campaign.


Opponents have suggested that Mavrodi is only running for office to gain the immunity from prosecution enjoyed by all State Duma deputies.


A judge in August refused a claim that Mavrodi's apartment was searched illegally, and sent him back to his cell. And earlier this month, the Supreme Court convened to consider releasing him, but postponed the decision indefinitely.


His followers rejoiced at the court ruling, but were angered that their hero would be detained another night. "Criminals, criminals," they shouted at the government. "Freedom to Mavrodi. This is only the beginning." The crowd was watched by a detachment of some 20 OMON riot police, but there were no incidents.


One woman said she was prepared to spend all night to see Mavrodi released. "It's my life. And after everything that happened with Mavrodi, I can't leave this place. I will stay here until he is freed," said the woman, who declined to give her name. Mavrodi was taken into custody in dramatic fashion on August 4th, when armed tax police and Interior Ministry troops rappelled down the side of his building and invaded his 8th floor apartment through an open balcony.


Almost two weeks later, Mavrodi was charged with resisting search and large-scale tax evasion. Moscow police said Mavrodi failed to report and pay taxes on revenues of 24.5 billion rubles ($6.6 million) related to Invest Consulting, which prosecutors say is one of the many shell companies headed by Mavrodi in the MMM scheme.


Alexander Soloshenko, an attorney for Mavrodi, said the money had not been Invest Consulting's revenue but rather a temporary transfer from MMM Invest, Mavrodi's voucher investment fund. Attorneys painted Mavrodi as the innocent victim of behind-the-scenes business and political machinations.


Almost immediately after being thrown in jail, Mavrodi the prisoner became a cause celebre. Crowds gathered outside government headquarters demanding not only the return of their money, but freedom for the man who held their trust.


Though he lived meagerly in one room of his vast apartment, Mavrodi is believed to be one of Russia's wealthiest men.


MMM lured millions of Russians and billions of their rubles with tantalizing television commercials promising sky-high returns on deposits. The ads featured the Golubkovs, a fictional Russian family transformed into extravagant sybarites by successful investing in MMM.


MMM shares soared from 1,600 rubles in February to 105,600 rubles on July 25th.


But the company collapsed the next day, when MMM stopped honoring its own shares. Thousands of investors tried to pound their way into closed MMM offices, demanding a return on their shares, but were left stranded. Officials said Mavrodi was running a classic pyramid scheme, in which money from new deposits was used to pay off prior investors.


Mavrodi was never charged with any offense directly related to MMM. The company has reopened for business and continues to attract buyers for shares at a greatly reduced price.





-- Svetlana Vinogradova contributed to this report.