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Secret Talks Taking Place While Khodorkovsky Verdict Read - Russian Analyst
Interfax

Moscow, 23 Mar: The president of the Expertiza foundation, Mark Urnov, thinks that the long drawn-out reading of the verdict in the case of the ex-head of Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovskiy and Menatep head Platon Lebedev could be connected with the fact that a final decision on the case has still not been taken.

"The fact that the reading of the verdict is dragging on is producing a very strange impression at the very least. It is currently extremely complicated to comment on what this means but it could be connected with the fact that a final decision, as to how and what sentence to pass, has up to now not been taken. The dragging out of the verdict is happening for the sake of secret consultations which are taking place at the same time, Urnov told Interfax on Monday [23 May].

He said that "if this hypothesis is true, then as soon as a decision has been reached, the reading of the verdict will be speeded up".

In this connection he added that "in any case such a way of publishing the verdict discredits our country in the eyes of the civilized world more and more with each passing day".

"All this is already starting to make a laughing stock of the court system," Urnov said.