sentenced in 2005 to eight years in prison for fraud and tax evasion, the former boss of oil company Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, now must respond to new charges embezzlement and money laundering. Returned to his jail Siberian Chita February 24, the 45 year old man attended the opening of his trial Tuesday, March 3, behind bulletproof glass court Khamovnitcheski Moscow.
Hundreds of police were mobilized during the first day of hearings devoted to procedural matters. A dozen activists demanding "the release of political prisoners" were arrested before the court before the trial.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky is accused of embezzling 892 billion rubles (20 billion euros) from the sale of oil from three subsidiaries of Yukos, and of laundering the equivalent of 10 billion euros. According to the Russian Criminal Code, twenty-one additional years in prison could be added to the nine he began to bleed.
"There is no evidence," lamented Kliouvgant Vadim, the lead defense lawyer, who requested the removal of one of the prosecutors. "They do not seek to enforce the law, but rather trying to get at any price what they have been mandated." According to Khodorkovsky's lawyers, the indictment is not credible: the amount of oil that the former boss of Yukos is charged with embezzling more than the total production of its three subsidiaries for the period concerned.
COMPANY dismembered
Arrested in 2003 and sentenced in 2005 during a trial deemed "political", the former rich oligarch Vladimir Putin opposed, made no secret at the time of his political ambitions. After his arrest, Yukos has been dismembered, and its various structures listed by companies loyal to the Kremlin.
New trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which takes place while Dmitry Medvedev celebrated the first anniversary of the presidential election that brought him to power, will he held under the same auspices? On Monday, Mr. Khodorkovsky wanted to believe that "positive institutional changes" were underway, including the Justice, "which begins to act as an independent branch of power."
"There are certainly differences between the various factions in the Kremlin for Khodorkovsky, said political analyst Vladimir Pribylovski. But nothing enough to shake up the duo at the top of the state, even if it's a safe bet that Medvedev would have preferred not to dwell on this matter. Except that Medvedev is not a independent politician, Putin remains the number one. "
Khodorkovsky said Monday the trial began, saying that" the show will not be uninteresting. "Given the 3500 pages of the indictment, it will be long term .
Alexandre Billette
0 comments:
Post a Comment