| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
Khodorkovsky Told to Speed Read
The Ingoda District Court in Chita, acting on a petition by the Prosecutor General's Office, has limited the time Mikhail Khodorkovsky will have to examine at least 70 volumes of material in his latest criminal trial. He is accused of appropriation of property entrusted to him and laundering money illegally gained by an organized group. The former head of YUKOS said that he would not appeal the decision. Khodorkovsky has been in a preliminary holding facility in Chita since last December.
The prosecutor says that Khodorkovsky refuses to read the legal material on weekends and while being transported to court, otherwise he would be able to acquaint himself with the necessary material by December 15. The court set a time limit of December 22. Khodorkovsky says that he is already reading 195 pages per day, while the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation prescribes 50-70 pages per day. Now he will have to read 250 pages per day to complete the material in time.
The same court will now consider an analogical petition by the prosecutor in relation to Platon Lebedev. Lebedev's defense announced in court yesterday that supervising prosecutor Valery Lakhtin had been taken off the case. Lakhtin participated in Lebedev's arrest in 2003, taking him into custody at his court hearing and denying him the opportunity of counsel. Lebedev successfully appealed that arrest in the European Court of Human Rights this year. The Ingoda court declared that information not germane. It is expected to rule on the prosecutor's petition today.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 16, 2007
|
|
|
