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KHODORKOVSKY ACCUSES PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE OF VIOLATIONS OF LAW

MOSCOW, January 12 (RIA Novosti) - Mikhail Khodorkovsky said his defense has repeatedly encountered the prosecution's erroneous assumptions and illegal actions. He said this during hearings at the Meshchansky district court, Moscow.

"Shortly before New Year, Ms. Vishnyakova, spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General's office, was referring to fictitious billions of dollars she alleged stolen from YUKOS. I did not say a word then. Today, the same allegations came from Yuri Biryukov, the top prosecutor's first deputy and hearings supervisor, to appear in Argumenty i Fakty [popular Moscow-based weekly]."

The defendant said he was taking "this and other specifics" of his case for granted.

Analysts from several dozen countries have studied YUKOS too thoroughly for billions to vanish from it "just nowhere", he said.

"Unaccounted billions of dollars can come out of nowhere and vanish again without a trace only in one company- Baikal Finance Group [a dark horse that sensationally bought the biggest YUKOS production branch in a recent auction]. But even that is hardly probable," said the defendant.

"It is dangerous to invent fictitious billions," he warned.

Khodorkovsky came down on the top prosecutor's men for many trespasses. Thus, they were unlawfully questioning witnesses just before court hearings, and asked numerous leading questions. "YUKOS alone came through 150 searches. The prosecutor's men are out not merely to stock up compromising information-they are harassing the defense's access to the files. Many papers have been confiscated from defense lawyers' offices," said Khodorkovsky.

Prosecutor Dmitry Shokhin said that the defendant meant with his statement "to procrastinate the hearings and discredit the prosecution", and appealed to the court "to pay due attention to an attempt to desecrate the honor of persons who do not deserve it."

Justice Irina Kolesnikova, court president, warned the defendant against further similar statements.

As the public prosecutor said on a previous occasion, "Khodorkovsky was out to undermine the authority of the Russian judiciary. He is throwing mud at the prosecutor's office and the judiciary in an awkward attempt to vindicate himself. He can't do anything else now that the court has received exhaustive evidence of his guilt."