| There is not a single defense argument in Khodorkovsky’s verdict yet “The guilt of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev in committing fraud has been fully established.” This conclusion was reached yesterday by the Meshchansky District Court of the capital, where the announcement of the verdict in the case of the ex-head of YUKOS and the head of Menatep continued yesterday. Thus, the court confirmed the charge for one of the 11 crimes he was charged with. The oligarch's lawyers argue that the verdict still copies the indictment, ignoring all the arguments of the defense.
Early in the morning, Kalanchevskaya Street in the area of the Meshchansky Court looked gray from afar - several police detachments were marching back and forth, and two or three traffic police inspectors stood on the roadway every 20 meters. Metal barriers were erected on both sides of the street for approximately 300 meters, and policemen armed with batons and gas masks stood along them in dense chains. It was possible to enter this section of the street only through metal detector frames, after explaining the “purpose of arrival” and demonstrating the contents of the bags. Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Canadian lawyer Robert Amsterdam immediately rushed to the journalists upon arrival. He was literally seething with anger. “There are dozens of policemen with dogs all around, metal fences! Is this how a normal legitimate democratic court should take place? - the lawyer was indignant. - People who came to the rally were kicked, pushed into cars and taken away. This is outrageous and once again confirms the fact that the law does not work in this country.” By 10.00, one of the victims during the rally held the day before in defense of Khodorkovsky, deputy chairman of the Yabloko party, Sergei Mitrokhin, also arrived. Yesterday, a hearing was held in the Meshchansky Court on charges against him and several others detained at the rally of violating the rules for holding mass events and failing to comply with the legal demands of law enforcement officers. On Monday, after the end of the authorized rally at 14.00, police officers demanded that the picketers disperse. “I didn’t want to come into conflict with the police, but on the contrary, I began to persuade people to disperse,” said the Yabloko man. - And the police began to grab everyone, push them into cars and beat them. If a fair trial still exists in this country, then we will prove that we are not guilty of anything.” Mr. Mitrokhin succeeded: the Meshchansky Court did not consider this administrative case, since the police could not provide a single piece of evidence of the guilt of the “violators.”
By the start of Tuesday's hearing, several dozen people had again gathered for a rally near the courthouse. However, their slogans sounded completely different from Monday: “Khodorkovsky, return our money!”, “Putin, protect us from the Khodorkovskys!”
Exactly at 10.30, as scheduled, the judges entered the hall and continued announcing the verdict. The day before, the court “found” that Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, as part of an organized group, committed several crimes: fraud with 44% of the shares of JSC NIUIF, failure to comply with a court decision on a transaction with these securities, as well as on a transaction with the acquisition of 20% of the shares of JSC "Apatit", causing damage to the shareholders of "Apatit", theft of large amounts of apatite concentrate, as well as evasion of taxes from an individual. Yesterday, the court “established” two more criminal acts of the accused - evasion of taxes from the organization and embezzlement of funds belonging to YUKOS on a large scale in favor of Media-Most CJSC and companies controlled by Vladimir Gusinsky.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky did not look as cheerful as before - he sat on a bench with a sad look, crossing his legs and resting his head on his hand. Judge Irina Kolesnikova kept listing an endless number of “companies specially registered by Khodorkovsky for the purpose of tax evasion,” and he only slightly shook his head.
During a break, lawyer Heinrich Padva suggested that the sentence could be commuted. “The announced verdict allows us to hope that in some cases the legal assessment may be changed and this gives hope for a change in the charges,” he said. However, subsequently no one was so optimistic anymore. After a break, the court moved on to assessing the evidence presented and began with the episode of fraud with shares of NIUIF JSC. “The court finds the guilt of the defendants in the fraudulent acquisition of 44% of the shares of JSC NIUIF fully established,” the judge announced and began to list the reasons that forced her to come to this conclusion. First, Ms. Kolesnikova referred to the testimony of prosecution witnesses - former employees of Menatep, who, on the instructions of their superiors, prepared documents for participation in investment auctions for the purchase of these shares of companies allegedly controlled by the defendants. According to the verdict, one of these companies, a certain JSC Walton, won a competition on the terms of investing $25 million in the development of NIUIF, but these obligations were never fulfilled. According to the court, evidence of fraud is also provided by the work books of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, which list all the positions they occupied in the period from 1995 to 1998 in the structures of Menatep and YUKOS.
Judge Kolesnikova, tired of reading, alternately passed the baton to her colleagues - judges Elena Maksimova and Elena Klinkova, while she carefully monitored the observance of order in the room and was very strict. At first she scolded the lawyers: “You rustle the newspapers too loudly and interfere with the court.” And then she kicked the most “hardcore” offender out of the hall. “The lady is on the first bench! This is a court case, not a place to eat. Leave the hall immediately! - the judge shouted. The woman, driven out in disgrace, later complained: “I just wanted to eat candy because I was coughing. I don’t understand what’s wrong with this?”
Yesterday's meeting, like the day before, did not last long, and at about 14.00 everyone was released until May 18. This caused a real storm of indignation among lawyers. “It is possible that in the first half of the day they read, and in the second they complete the verdict,” suggested one of Khodorkovsky’s lawyers, Yuri Schmidt. “Otherwise, it’s not clear what’s stopping them from working longer.” According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, during hearings on a case, the court has the right to take a break only at the end of the working day. I believe the same applies to the sentence." Regarding the charges, which the court considered proven yesterday, Mr. Schmidt added that the court “repeats the same indictment with minor additions to the materials of the judicial investigation.” “Not a single defense piece of evidence was evaluated, and the court must analyze all the evidence as a whole,” he said. Some of Lebedev's defenders agreed with him. “The verdict was read slowly, and we were forced to work from 9.30 to 22.00, despite the fact that Lebedev was not feeling well,” said lawyer Evgeniy Baru.
Khodorkovsky's lawyer, Genrikh Padva, declined to make any assessments this time. “The court makes a verdict, and I don’t have any feelings,” Mr. Padva said. Ekaterina BUTORINA |
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