Judge won't move extradition hearing in Olympics fixing case

ROME -- An Italian court ruled that extradition hearings for an alleged Russian mobster accused of fixing Olympic ice skating will be kept in Venice, the suspect's lawyer said Saturday.

Lawyer Luca Saldarelli had requested the hearings be moved to Tuscany, saying that his client, Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, had been arrested in the Tuscan seaside resort of Forte dei Marmi, and should be processed there.

Prosecutors argued that the request was a stalling tactic and said Tokhtakhounov was formally arrested in Venice. The court denied the request Friday.

Authorities illegally transported Tokhtakhounov from Forte dei Marmi to Venice before officially arresting him, Saldarelli charged in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

U.S. prosecutors say Tokhtakhounov persuaded a French judge to vote for the Russian pairs team at the Salt Lake Olympics, and a Russian to vote in turn for the French ice-dancing team.

A scandal broke out after Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won Olympic gold by the slimmest of margins in pairs figure skating on Feb. 11, defeating Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier. A week after the pairs competition, the ice-dancing team of Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat won France's first gold in figure skating since 1932.

A duplicate set of gold medals was later awarded to the Canadian pairs team.