Khodorkovsky Found Guilty of Oil Theft, Lawyers Say

[Joanne98]

Source: Bloomberg

A Moscow judge found Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the jailed former head of Yukos Oil Co., guilty of embezzling crude, adding to a 2005 conviction, in a trial that has raised European concerns about the rule of law in Russia.

Khodorkovsky and his former business partner Platon Lebedev, already serving eight-year sentences for fraud and tax evasion, may be sentenced this week or after Jan. 10 when Russia’s New Year holidays end, their lawyers said. The men face six more years in prison, the defense team has said.

“The trial was a charade of justice, the charges were absolutely false, but I fear the sentencing will be very real,” Vadim Klyuvgant, the lead defense lawyer, said today in a statement. The defense team plans to appeal the decision, he told reporters outside the courtroom. “There isn’t the slightest doubt that there was pressure on the court.”

Khodorkovsky, 47, was due for release in October next year. Once Russia’s richest man, Khodorkovsky has called the charges retribution for political opposition to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who was president at the time of his 2003 arrest. Putin has denied any involvement.



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-27/khodorkovsky-probably-found-guilty-in-oil-theft-trial-defense-lawyer-says.html

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This is example number one of why Putin is so popular in Russia. If Obama put just ONE bankster in jail, his approval ratings would jump up twenty points.

[howaboutme]

1. Russian oligarchs

need to face life imprisonment or worse. That might have deterred US oligarchs.

[naaman fletcher]

2. Khodorkovsky is not a good guy

he and the Oligarchs stole everything. Putin's deal with the Oligarchs was that he would leave them alone if they left him alone. Khodorkovsky broke that deal, so Putin went after him.

Really, both sides are bad, one just won their squabble and the other lost.

[Psephos]

3. That sums it up accurately. n/t