Believe it or not, oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s verdict was delayed for the fourth day in a row. Judges adjourned the court after just 3 hours again.
Defense lawyers in the trial have already been getting angry, claiming that it is unlawful for the court sessions to end so early rather than after a full work day.
“My feeling is that it will take days and days,” said lawyer Robert Amsterdam. “But as soon as the press loses interest it may speed up dramatically and there could be a verdict.”
Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky along with his business partner Platon Lebedev is on trial for 11 counts of fraud, embezzlement, and tax evasion.
Khodorkovsky was arrested about a year and a half ago while Yukos was being investigated. Lebedev was arrested three months before that. The charges that both face have to do with the privatization of a fertilizer-component company in 1994.
Many believe that Khodorkovsky is just the target of a Kremlin campaign to sabotage his political agenda, but the Kremlin denies this theory. As Reuters states,
The legal onslaught on Khodorkovsky and his company has alarmed investors and brought expressions of concern from Washington.
Before his 2003 arrest, Khodorkovsky was funding opposition political parties, which analysts say is part of the reason for his downfall. The Kremlin has denied the trial is political.
Everyone pretty much knows that Khodorkovsky will be found guilty, so it seems that the court is just prolonging the inevitable. “The court has established guilt on all charges,” said Khodorkovsky’s lawyer Genrikh Padva.
The prosecution wants Khodorkovsky to be sentenced a maximum of 10 years. The defense is seeking to get him completely acquitted from any charges.
Chris is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
