RUSSIA: OIL MAGNATE MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY ARRIVES FOR COURT HEARINF ON FRAUD AND TAX EVASION CHARGES

Record ID: 344903

  • Title: RUSSIA: OIL MAGNATE MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY ARRIVES FOR COURT HEARINF ON FRAUD AND TAX EVASION CHARGES
  • Date: 22nd December 2003
  • Summary: (W5) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (DECEMBER 22, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV PRISON VAN CARRYING MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY ARRIVING AT COURT 0.07 2. SMV KHODORKOVSKY SUPPORTERS HOLDING UP PLACARDS AND HIS PHOTOGRAPH OUTSIDE COURT 0.13 3. SMV KHODORKOVSKY (WEARING BLUE JACKET) BEING LED INTO COURT HANDCUFFED TO A PRISON OFFICER 0.18 4. VARIOUS OF VANS, SUPPORTERS AND JOURNALISTS OUTSIDE COURT 0.29 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 6th January 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVA531L8WHV50GUI3YTMKPFG0O12
  • Story Text: Mikhail Khodorkovsky is led into a Moscow court to
    learn whether he is to remain in jail pending his trial on
    fraud and tax fraud charges.



    Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russia's richest man and key
    shareholder in oil major YUKOS, was brought to a Moscow
    court on Monday (December 22) to learn whether he was to
    remain in jail pending his trial on fraud and tax fraud
    charges.

    It was the first time Khodorkovsky had been seen
    outside his prison cell since his arrest on October 25 at
    gunpoint aboard an aircraft. Wearing jeans, a
    sweatsh
    irt and closely cropped hair,
    Khodorkovsky smiled and nodded at reporters as he was led
    into court in handcuffs. He was escorted by about 10
    policemen, some with submachineguns.

    One of Khodorkovsky's lawyers, Karina Moskalenko, said
    the judge had rejected a defence request for an open
    hearing to rule on a prosecution proposal that the oil
    magnate remain in detention for a further three months.

    Khodorkovsky's pre-trial detention is due to expire on
    December 30.

    His lawyers had objected to a proposal to shift the
    hearing to his cell in Matrosskaya Tishina prison, saying
    such a trial would be closed to observers and the press.

    Another defence lawyer, Vasily Aleksanyan, had said
    soon after the hearing opened that the court was using the
    security of participants as a pretext for keeping the trial
    closed. The defence was considering whether to refuse to
    take part.

    The last hearing to seek Khodorkovsky's release on bail
    in November was mainly a closed sitting, though reporters
    briefly saw Khodorkovsky appear on a video link.

    Many observers see the legal assault on YUKOS as
    inspired by Kremlin hardliners, anxious to rein in the
    tycoon's political ambitions. They expect no decision to
    release Khodorkovsky on bail until at least the March 14
    presidential election.

    President Vladimir Putin has said he plans to run for a
    second term and is heavily favoured to win the contest. He
    has pledged that businessmen who broke laws in chaotic
    sell-offs of state property during the 1990s must face the
    consequences.

    Khodorkovsky faces up to 10 years in prison.




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