Russian pianist accused of raping boy in Thailand

Grammy Award-winning musician Mikhail Pletnev has been arrested in the notorious sex resort of Pattaya in Thailand and charged with raping a 14-year-old boy.

It has also been claimed that police discovered a number of compromising pictures of the famed pianist and conductor of the Russian National Orchestra when they searched his house in the resort on Monday.

Pletnev spends much of his time in Thailand and has homes and business interests there. He was arrested at a restaurant he co-owns in Pattaya. If convicted of rape the musician faces up to 20 years in jail.

"We received a tip-off from a detained Thai man who is involved in a prostitution ring. And we received more information from the child's parents, the child himself and other witnesses," said police spokesman Omsin Sukkanka.

He added that Pletnev, who has been released on bail, denied the allegations.

Pletnev is one of Russia's most prominent musicians and in 1990 became a founder and the first principal conductor of the Russian National Orchestra. The RNO, of which he is artistic director, is due to begin a European tour later this week.

He is also a member of Russian president Dmitry Medvedev's advisory board on culture and holds the title of 'people's artist', the highest state merit for Russian artists.

In 2004 the RNO won a Grammy for its recording of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and Jean-Pascal Beintus's Wolf Tracks, which was narrated by Sophia Loren, Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev.

The following year, Pletnev himself won a Grammy Award for his own arrangement of Prokofiev's Cinderella. ·