Russian oil tycoon Khodorkovsky found guilty in trial



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Former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been found guilty of embezzlement at his politically charged second trial in Moscow. The judge said Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev were guilty of stealing from their firm Yukos and laundering the proceeds.
Khodorkovsky is already serving an eight-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion from his 2005 trial.
His lawyers say the verdict was the result of official pressure. Khodorkovsky, 47, was due to be released next year, but the new convictions could see him jailed for much longer. The two defendants were led into court in handcuffs by armed guards.
In the sealed glass dock Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man. waved at his parents, the small courtroom packed with journalists and cameras.
Several hundred demonstrators could be heard outside the courtroom, chanting "Freedom!" and "Put Putin [the Russian prime minister] in jail!"dominican republic divorce
Police made a number of arrests.


Khodorkovsky's supporters were detained after calling for PM Putin to be put behind bars

Only a handful of reporters were present as judge Viktor Danilkin read out the first few pages of the verdict, and some were later asked to leave.
"The court has established that Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev committed embezzlement acting in collusion with a group of people and using their professional positions," Judge Danilkin said.
Delivering the full verdict and sentence is expected to take several days.
Khodorkovsky's lawyers have already said they will appeal.
'Sick state' In the latest trial, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are accused of stealing hundreds of millions of tonnes of oil from the now defunct Yukos oil company,and laundering the proceeds, in the years 1998-2003.


“Start Quote

It is not a bad thing that Khodorkovsky is in jail. But it is a bad thing that others like him are not in jail”

End Quote Sergei M, St Petersburg He has denounced the charges as rubbish.

Khodorkovsky has said that a state that destroys its best companies and trusts only the bureaucracy and the special services is a sick state.
Many critics believe the government wants the former tycoon kept behind bars for as long as possible because he financed the opposition when Vladimir Putin was president.
Mr Putin - now Russia's prime minister - referred to Khodorkovsky in a televised question-and-answer session last week, when he said he believed "a thief belongs in prison". One of Khodorkovsky's lawyers, Vadim Klyuvgant, has criticised what he described as "an unjust verdict by a court that is not free", describing it as "shameful for the country".
"What we heard here confirms that the court has faced pressure," he told reporters.


Mikhail Khodorkovsky Timeline

• 1963 - Born in Moscow, son of chemical engineers
• 1981 - Enters Medeleyev Chemistry Institute, Moscow
• 1980s - Sets up computer software business with fellow students
• 1987 - Founds Menatep bank
• 1994 - Buys Apatit fertiliser company at auction
• 1995 - Buys Yukos for $350m, with Menatep assuming $2bn in debt
• 2003 - Arrested for tax evasion, embezzlement and fraud
• 2004 - First court case begins
• 2005 - Found guilty on six of seven charges, jailed for eight years
• 2007 - Yukos declared bankrupt
• March 2009 - Second court case starts in Moscow
• December 2010 - Convicted of embezzlement and money laundering

Former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind has criticised the conduct of the trial in an interview with the BBC.

"I think it is very sad, because it is manifestly a politically inspired trial.
"Khodorkovsky is in effect Russia's political prisoner, and we thought the days of political prisoners in Russia were over with the end of communism in 1990," he said.
He added that the verdict also had "serious implications for the way the business community across the world sees Russia".
Germany - which has also raised concerns about the case - says it is watching developments very closely, but will not comment until the full verdict has been published.
"Respecting the rule of law in trials is of the greatest importance for the development of a modern state," government spokesman Christoph Steegmans said.

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