MOSCOW - The former boss of Russian oil group Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was transferred from Siberia to Moscow to be held from March 3 as part of a new case where he faces up to 22 ½ years in prison further, a new political trial, experts said. sentenced in 2005 to eight years for tax evasion and fraud large scale, Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been transferred on Tuesday in the Moscow prison Matrosskaya Tichina to be tried this time for "embezzlement", "embezzlement" and for "illegal financial transactions."
"The misappropriation of funds and is liable to a maximum of 10 years in prison and illegal operations of 15 years, but the cumulative penalty not to exceed 150% of the latter, it might therefore 22 years and a half additional prison, "he told AFP spokesperson Maksim rescattering of his defense.
"The court may still confuse the first sentence of eight years "with the possible new conviction, he added.
" Theoretically, this charge includes more than 20 years in prison, but we will fight to show how absurd it is, "he told AFP one of the lawyers for Mr. Khodorkovsky, Karina Moskalenko.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, 30 May 2005 at a hearing before a Moscow court
Many experts consider this new folder as a political issue.
"Some senior Officials are worried that once released Khodorkovsky can become a symbol of opposition to the population as a crisis, "said analyst Valery Khomyakov.
Indeed, the proportion of supporters of former tycoon has doubled since his arrest in 2004, from 9% to 18%, according to a Levada Center poll conducted in January.
In addition, the Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, the sworn enemy of Khodorkovsky and leader of the 'siloviki' former KGB and the army placed at the top of the state, "opposes a possible release of the oligarch, "says Khomyakov. Mr Sechin
"just would not feel that Mr. Khodorkovsky reveals the truth about privatization of state assets enjoyed by the deputy prime minister," says Khomyakov, who co-chairs the Council for National Strategy.
Yet this NGO that published the 2003 report "The state and the oligarchs" denouncing "the threat posed to state" these all-powerful businessmen, including Khodorkovsky.
"The authorities are now treating as a conspirator, but we are not asking to put the oligarchs in prison, it was enough to remove from power," says he told AFP.
In February 2007, more than two years after the first conviction of the former richest man in Russia, announced that prosecutors have opened this new investigation. The former head
Yukos and his associate Platon Lebedev are now accused of doing illegal operations for a total of 896 billion rubles (about $ 25 billion at current exchange rates) between 1998 and 2003.
"Many things are wrong with this case," said Yuri Kostanov, the Independent Counsel Law Experts.
"The Russian tax legislation is so vague that many entrepreneurs might find themselves in the place of Khodorkovsky," added the lawyer.
This week, Mr Khodorkovsky is also on trial on charges of sexual harassment made by his ex-cellmate Alexander Kuchma, but denounced by another inmate as "completely fanciful".
A view shared by the lawyers of former Yukos boss, that Mr. Kuchma, who can "neither read nor write," have been exploited by the enemies of their client.
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