Chita courts are not trying Khodorkovsky and Lebedev cases independently and fairly (survey).

Over three-quarters (75.4%) of Chita citizens do not believe that the trial of the Khodorkovsky and Lebedev cases in Chita will be independent and fair. This data was received during the survey organised at the end of August by the Centre for Civil Initiatives Support and the Chita Public Support Committee for Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. A press release distributed on Thursday states that the survey was organised on the streets of the city as well as in student and municipal hostels. The survey involved 566 persons in the 18 to 70 age bracket.

Though the Code of criminal procedure of the Russian Federation does not provide for the Khodorkovsky and Lebedev cases to be heard in Chita, the initiators of the survey are sure that “we shouldn’t rule out any possibility”. “In spite of all its efforts, the defence failed to move the Yukos case investigation to Moscow, therefore the trial is likely to occur in Chita,” Marina Savateeva, the deputy chairman of the Public Support Committee for Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev said. 70.3% of respondents answered in the negative to the question: Can the Ingodinsky court of Chita objectively get outside the financial and operational mechanisms of the Yukos case?

(According to Interfax News Agency, 06.09.2007)