The standard procedural deadlines in the Khodorkovsky-Lebedev case are about to expire.  Yury Schmidt tells The New Times what is likely to happen.

At the beginning of May the time limit for the preliminary investigation into Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev’s second court case will expire.  What can we expect?  The New Times asked Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s attorney, Yury Schmidt.

“The period of the investigation can be extended by a directive from the head of the Investigative Committee (A. Bastrykin – The New Times).  A decision also has to be taken on whether to extend the period the accused can be held in the pre-trial detention facility.  If the Investigative Committee intends to extend the period of custody, and unfortunately we have no grounds to think otherwise, it must seek the sanction of the Zabaikaliye Regional Court (formerly the Chita Regional Court) within the next two weeks.

“We can expect the investigation to apply to the district court to limit the period allowed for the accused to familiarise themselves with the case materials.  There was an application of that kind in November last year when the investigation requested that the familiarisation period should expire on 15 December, although the court in its magnanimity allowed us an extra week.  After that, however, the investigation came up with numerous volumes of additional material which it had been gathering during the period when the accused were familiarising themselves with the existing case materials.  This concurrent investigation was completely illegal and produced more than 20 volumes of material. 

Naturally, we had to be allowed to familiarise ourselves what these documents, and accordingly a directive was issued on 15 January granting an extension for the preliminary investigation, and at the same time the court sanctioned the continued detention of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev.

“The behaviour of these people is fairly stereotyped, so we should expect another application for the period of familiarisation to be limited.  If different ideas are ripening upstairs, however, it is conceivable that they will not do so in April, and will confine themselves to applying for an extension of the period of pre-trial detention.

“On Monday 7 April our appeal on a point of law against the latest ruling of the Basmanny Court will be considered.  That ruling found that decision was legal in which Deputy Public Prosecutor V. Grin resolved that the investigation should be conducted in Chita rather than in Moscow as the defence demanded.”

(The New Times, 7.4.2008)