#2 - JRL 9107 - JRL Home
Moscow Times
March 30, 2005
Prosecutors Go for the Full 10 Years
By Guy Faulconbridge
Staff Writer

The state prosecutor on Tuesday called for maximum 10-year sentences for Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev on multiple counts of tax evasion, fraud, embezzlement and falsifying documents.

But he asked for the defendants not to serve additional jail terms on charges related to the 1994 privatization of the Apatit fertilizer plant, citing the statute of limitations.

"The illegal actions taken deliberately by Khodorkovsky and Lebedev over a long period of time and in the absolute majority of cases as part of an organized group of people, have inflicted a significant loss to the interests -- defended in law -- of citizens, society, and the state," state prosecutor Dmitry Shokhin said, his voice hoarse after speaking all day in the Meshchansky district courtroom.

"That is evidence that the crimes committed by the accused present an increased danger to society."

The trial of Khodorkovsky, the man behind the embattled Yukos-Menatep business empire who has been in detention since his arrest in October 2003, and Lebedev, his business partner, lies at the heart of Menatep's highly politicized battle with groups inside the Kremlin.

The conflict, which erupted into the public arena with the arrest of Lebedev in July 2003, led to the auctioning off of Yuganskneftegaz, Yukos's main production unit, its acquisition by state-owned Rosneft and government officials frequently contradicting each other in public.

On the charges of fraudulent ownership of shares relating to the privatization of Apatit, Shokhin said the two men should not serve additional nine-year terms, due to the 10-year statute of limitations.

The defense team has long called for the statute of limitations to be applied to the charges relating to Apatit, which has been at the center of the prosecution's case. The initial charges against Lebedev centered on the privatization and raised fears that officials could seek to reverse the country's controversial 1990s privatizations.

Shokhin, dressed in a double-breasted blue prosecutors' uniform with silver buttons, said Khodorkovsky and Lebedev showed no remorse for crimes that were obviously a danger to society and had sought to evade responsibility for their crimes.

Both men have denied the charges and said the prosecution's evidence was flawed.

The prosecutor scolded Lebedev, accusing him of, "to put it mildly, acting incorrectly" in court. Lebedev has spent most of the nine-month trial filling in Japanese crosswords or scribbling notes, and has sometimes made comments and laughed loudly from the courtroom cage he shares with Khodorkovsky.

As Shokhin read out his closing argument, Lebedev carried on with his crossword while Khodorkovsky smirked and shook his head.

When asked by a reporter what he thought of the prosecutor's comments, Khodorkovsky said simply, "We expected it." Justice Ministry guards barred any further questions.

Khodorkovsky's lawyer, Genrikh Padva, said after the hearing that the request for the maximum sentence was "fully expected" after Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Kolesnikov asked for a similar sentence "many, many months ago ... without studying the case." The defense team will ask for a break to prepare its closing arguments, he said.

"The prosecution's arguments simply do not stand up to any criticism," Padva said, adding that he hoped the judge would not heed the prosecution's demands for maximum sentences.

Shokhin asked the court to deny Khodorkovsky and Lebedev the right to hold state office or to head an organization for three years. He also said civil lawsuits from the Federal Tax Service and the Moscow Tax Inspectorate against the two men should be approved. He added that the men's frozen property should be confiscated to compensate the state.

Yury Shmidt, another Khodorkovsky lawyer, said he expected the court to reach a final verdict by the second half of May.