| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
Swiss Court Sides with Khodorkovsky and Lebedev
The Swiss Federal Court has ruled in favor of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev and unblocked their bank accounts and those of a number of companies associated with them in that country, worth a total of 200 million francs ($166 million). The court also decided not to provide legal assistance to Russia on the YUKOS case, finding the case politically motivated. This is the first time in its 150-year history that the Swiss Federal Court has refused to provide legal assistance to a foreign government.
Switzerland blocked 6 billion francs ($5 billion) at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation in March 2004. Three months later, the federal court unblocked almost all of those accounts. In January of this year, the court demanded that the Swiss prosecutor seek explanations from Moscow of several aspects of the YUKOS case and studied reports by PACE and decisions of the European Court connected to the Russian case, resulting in the decision to unblock the remainder of the accounts.
The court concluded that the YUKOS case was politically motivated and violated the Russian Constitution and a number of other legal norms. The Swiss prosecutor's office has stated that it will no longer provide any assistance to Russia in the case. Last year, Swiss prosecutor Valentin Roschacher was fired after the Swiss parliament noticed his considerable efforts to assist the Russian government in the YUKOS case.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 25, 2007
|
|
|
