RUSSIA: MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY AND PLATON LEBEDEV ARRIVE IN COURT FOR SECOND WEEK OF VERDICT HEARING IN THEIR FRAUD AND TAX EVASION TRIAL

Record ID: 648595

  • Title: RUSSIA: MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY AND PLATON LEBEDEV ARRIVE IN COURT FOR SECOND WEEK OF VERDICT HEARING IN THEIR FRAUD AND TAX EVASION TRIAL
  • Date: 23rd May 2005
  • Summary: (W2) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (MAY 23, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE EXTERIOR OF COURT/ POLICE LINE/ PAN FROM POLICE LINE TO MASS OF ROAD REPAIR VEHICLES/ MACHINERY AND MOSCOW CITY COUNCIL WORKERS CARRYING OUT ROAD REPAIRS OUTSIDE COURT (2 SHOTS) 0.15 2. AIRPORT STYLE SECURITY BARRIERS IN STREET OUTSIDE COURT/ POLICE IN STREET 0.23 3. POLICE VAN CARRYING RUSSIAN TYCOON MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY AND CO-ACCUSED PLANTON LEBEDEV ARRIVES AT COURT 4. MV: COURT ENTRANCE/ CU: COURT NAME PLATE (2 SHOTS) 0.32 5. SECURITY FORCES ARRIVING 0.43 6. PAN: GATES BEING OPENED, POLICE VAN DRIVING INTO COURT CAR PARK 1.06 7. TOP VIEW OF VEHICLES IN THE COURTYARD OF COURT, MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY AND PLATON LEBEDEV TAKEN OUT OF CAR 1.26 8. EXTERIOR OF COURT/ POLICE 1.33 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 7th June 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVA1EFZ0OF1G23JPHDK70UEGIPZN
  • Story Text: Khodorkovsky and Lebedev arrive in court for second
    week of a verdict hearing.


    Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and
    co-defendant Platon Lebedev were driven to court on Monday
    (May 23), for the start of a second week of a verdict
    hearing in their highly publicised fraud and tax evasion
    trial.

    There was a heavy police presence outside the
    courthouse as Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were driven to
    court. Opposite the courthouse Moscow city road workers had
    started to dig up the section of the road, where the
    pervious week television satellite trucks had stood,
    broadcasting from outside the court.

    Court proceedings began at 0630 GMT.

    The judges have already declared the oil tycoon guilty
    on all seven charges including tax evasion, corruption and
    fraud but have not announced a final verdict. Khodorkovsky
    lawyers said that meant they were certain to hand down
    formal guilty verdicts at the end of the summing up.

    Khodorkovsky was arrested 17 months ago and has been
    held in prison. His YUKOS YUKO.RTS> oil firm has since
    been crushed under the weight of a $27.5 billion back-tax
    bill.

    The prosecution is seeking the maximum 10-year prison
    term for Khodorkovsky, while his defence wants him fully
    acquitted.

    Khodorkovsky has branded the trial a farce. It is
    widely seen as part of a Kremlin campaign to destroy him
    and take back the company he built in murky privatisation
    deals of the 1990s.

    The fall of YUKOS and Khodorkovsky has shaken investor
    confidence in Russia, home to vast mineral and energy
    resources, and sensitised the stock market to any official
    moves against companies that are seen as less than loyal to
    the Kremlin.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register