| The verdict in the Yukos case is still a copy of the indictment Several hundred people gathered yesterday at the Meshchansky District Court of the capital, where the announcement of the verdict in the case of the former head of YUKOS Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the head of the Menatep MFO Platon Lebedev began. However, the first day of the “readings” ended unexpectedly quickly - just two hours after the announcement began, a break was announced until May 17. True, a certain conclusion about the court's verdict was made yesterday - the verdict will be unequivocally guilty, the judge stated too categorically about the facts that she had “established” that Khodorkovsky had committed crimes.
Although the start of the “performance” was scheduled for noon, already at eight in the morning the first “spectators” - journalists - arrived at the courthouse. And by nine o’clock the cordon began on Kalanchevskaya Street, where the “theater” stands. Metal barriers were set up about ten meters from the entrance, and about a dozen police and special forces officers did not allow anyone inside except court employees and citizens who had trials scheduled that same day. The crowd grew larger every minute, and soon it was no longer possible to squeeze through the barriers. The lists compiled by journalists included about a hundred representatives of various Russian and foreign media. However, only those of them were allowed into the “holy of holies” who had thought in advance to ask permission from the “philistine justice” to attend the announcement of an open and public verdict.
While journalists tried to push their IDs through the barriers to the unperturbed police officers, the crush became so unbearable that some seriously feared being maimed in the crowd. “If the crowd surges now, I will be pressed against this iron fence, and I could break my ribs,” frightened the young journalist from Hungary, who had previously proudly said that a couple of days ago he had become a permanent correspondent for a Hungarian newspaper in Moscow.
At about 10.30, the main characters - Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev - were brought to court from Sailor's Silence. In a “personal car” - an armored Ford minibus. Several special forces officers carefully helped the prisoners get out of the car, and then they, handcuffed to the guards, were escorted to the courthouse.
The security measures taken by the security forces were extraordinary. Those who were admitted to court were thoroughly searched at the entrance, and the names of those accredited were checked against several lists. No one was allowed into the hall with their phones turned on, although this was not necessary - all mobile networks had such strong interference that making any calls became pointless.
When the audience entered, both defendants were already in their dock. Surrounded by a dense ring of special forces officers, they stood behind bars and quietly talked to each other about something. Despite the importance of what was happening, both were dressed quite casually: Platon Lebedev in a light tracksuit, and Mikhail Khodorkovsky in blue jeans, a jumper and a light khaki jacket. The defendants' relatives tried to exchange even a word with them, but they were strictly forbidden to do so. True, both Khodorkovsky and Lebedev constantly smiled, waved their hands in greeting and winked at their parents, wives and children, thereby encouraging them and themselves. Spectators were seated on several benches. On the first two sat relatives and friends of the defendants, behind them were foreign lawyers, their translators and representatives of foreign media; on the very last bench, against the wall, were Russian journalists.
“I ask everyone to stand up!” - the bailiff shouted. The judges left the deliberation room, and silence reigned in the hall. “In the name of the Russian Federation, the verdict in the case of Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky and Platon Leonidovich Lebedev is announced,” began Irina Kolesnikova, the presiding judge of the trio of judges, and then listed all the articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation under which both were charged - fraud, failure to comply with a court decision, criminal mischief property damage through deception and breach of trust, embezzlement and embezzlement, tax evasion from an individual, tax evasion from an organization and forgery of documents. Ms. Kolesnikova then allowed everyone present to sit down “due to the large volume of the verdict.”
When everyone was seated and prepared to listen, she began to read out the document fatal to Mikhail Khodorkovsky in a clear and loud voice. “The court found that in 1994, Khodorkovsky, while working as chairman of the board of directors of OJSC KB Menatep, created an organized group of persons with the aim of acquiring shares of Russian enterprises through fraud and, in the process of committing a crime, directed the activities of this group,” the lawyers said with these words they lowered their heads dejectedly, and the people in the hall began to look at each other in bewilderment. Ms. Kolesnikova continued: “The court found that in 1995, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, as part of the above-mentioned organized group, committed fraud - fraudulent acquisition of 44% of the shares of JSC NIUIF...”
Since the text was read quite quickly, the journalists began feverishly leafing through the indictment, and then a strange thing was discovered - the contents of the verdict coincided almost word for word with the conclusion of the prosecutor's office. Only the order of the episodes incriminated against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev has changed somewhat. The foreigners, who could not understand the meaning of what was happening, turned their heads around in bewilderment, and then began to pass notes to their Russian colleagues: “Have they already accused them of something or not?” Relatives of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev began correspondence with the defendants. True, the vigilant special forces, before sending the notes to prison, first read them carefully themselves. After the description of the fraud with NIUIF shares, there followed an episode of malicious failure to comply with the decision of the arbitration court on this transaction, then the theft of apatite concentrate, then the seizure of the property of Apatit OJSC. And all this again “as part of an organized criminal group, with a clear distribution of roles.”
And then a friendly chorus of the crowd began to be heard from the street - “Freedom! Freedom! -- and car sirens. Irina Kolesnikova decided to interrupt her speech and announced a break for half an hour. By this time several hundred people had gathered in front of the court. These were mainly representatives of the Union of Right Forces, Yabloko, and the Conscience group. They unfurled posters with portraits of their idol and chanted slogans: “Khodorkovsky is our president!” and “We are replacing Khodorkovsky with the hero of Russia Ustinov!” The police had difficulty restraining people at the edge of the roadway, and trams, buses, and cars passing by were hooting and waving multi-colored flags, posters and T-shirts with portraits of Khodorkovsky and the words “Freedom for MBH.” But there were also those at the court who longed for a harsh sentence: “Khodorkovsky to prison!”, “The thief must go to prison!”, “Return the loot to the people!” - they shouted.
At 14.00 the time for the authorized rally expired. The police officers began to demand that the protesters disperse, but people objected - they were no longer protesting, but simply standing and watching what was happening in court. Then the law enforcement officers began to grab everyone and push them into police buses. About 30 people were taken to the central police department and later charged with violating the rules for holding mass events and failing to comply with the legal demands of law enforcement officers. Thus “order” was restored. People were dispersed, and the approaches to the court were blocked from all sides. Later it became known that at the Kalanchevskaya station there were five cars in full combat readiness with employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - in spheres, with shields and batons.
During the break, one of Platon Lebedev's lawyers, Elena Liptser, made her first guess about the court's decision. “Judging by what they read, the verdict is purely guilty,” she said. And Khodorkovsky’s wife, Inna, did not dare to make any predictions. “We have hope, hope always remains,” she said quietly.
At the end of the break, the court continued listing the facts that it “established”: failure to comply with the court decision on the transaction with 20% of the shares of Apatit OJSC and episodes of tax evasion from an individual. At the same time, Ms. Kolesnikova provided the opportunity to “read” to her two colleagues - Elena Maksimova and Elena Klinkova. However, both Elenas did not have good diction - they read quietly, often stumbling over complex economic formulations. The audience began to get bored, some even snored. But the despondency did not last long. At 14.30 Irina Kolesnikova unexpectedly interrupted the announcement of the verdict and announced a break until May 17.
“Very harsh tone,” said human rights activist Lev Ponomarev. “With all the skeptical forecasts, no one expected this.” Another well-known human rights activist, chairman of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alekseeva, could not understand anything at all: “They read like sextons, in a whisper - you can’t hear anything.” Many of the lawyers again spoke about the guilty nature of the verdict. “I would like to hear something new from the court. What happened? They are reading the same indictment, and with the same errors in numbers and wording,” said one of Khodorkovsky’s lawyers, Yuri Schmidt. He also noted that the court, while listing the crimes charged against his client, did not mention two very important episodes - theft of funds on a large scale in favor of Gusinsky and fraud with 20% of the shares of Apatit OJSC. Mr. Schmidt suggested that the court might also list them today as "established" facts, or if it moved from the narrative to the reasons for the verdict, there might be hope of acquittal on those charges.
The announcement of the verdict will continue today in the Meshchansky Court.
YOUR OPINION Ekaterina BUTORINA |
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