The Moscow City Court concluded its hearings into the appeal filed by Mikhail Khodorkovsky. After considering the case materials and positions presented by both the defence and the prosecution, Judge Vyacheslav Tarasov and his two colleagues reached their decision in just one hour. Ultimately, the Moscow City Court upheld the guilty verdict issued by Meshchansky Court, with a one year reduction of the prison term.

The request by Anton Drel, Elena Levina, and Denis Dyatlev, defence lawyers for Mikhail Khodorkovsky, to be excused from the appeals process was upheld by the Moscow City Court and the trial was rescheduled for Thursday, September 22, 2005.

Anton Drel, Elena Levina, and Denis Dyatlev, lawyers who represented Mikhail Khodorkovsky during the trial, were present for today’s proceedings. They refused to represent Mr. Khodorkovsky, who noted that he wanted Genrikh Padva or Yuri Schmidt to represent him.

Lawyers for Mikhail Khodorkovsky were prevented from meeting with their client today due to a "strict quarantine" being place on Khodorkovsky's cell. The lawyers also said prison officials demanded documents from the Moscow City Court proving they represented Khodorkovsky.

The proceedings for appeals filed by defence lawyers representing Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev began today in the Moscow City Court. Nothing substantive was discussed since lawyers representing Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were absent from the proceedings. As a result, the proceedings were postponed until Monday, September 19 at 11:00 a.m.

Lawyers for Mikhail Khodorkovsky filed an additional appeal with the Moscow City Court related to the charge of embezzlement of money to Vladimir Gusinky's Media Most company. Judge Kolesnikova also returned copies of the audio recordings of the trial to Khodorkovsky's lawyers, indicating she had dismissed efforts by the defence to highlight distortions in the court's written transcript.

Platon Lebedev announced he would only participate in the appeals process if the case went to the Russian Supreme Court or the European Court of Human Rights.

Defence lawyers for Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev filed two appeals with the Moscow Municipal Court - one relating to violations of the European Convention on Human Rights and the other relating to the privatization of Apatit stock.

Defence attorney Konstantin Rivkin filed an appeal for his client, Platon Lebedev, following the conclusion of the reading of the verdict in Meshchansky Court today.

The trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev came to a close today as both defendants were given 9-year sentences in a minimum-security prison colony. The third defendant, Andrei Krainov, was given a 5-year suspended sentence. Read more »

The Meshchansky Court analyzed the admissibility of testimony presented by witnesses called by the defence and documents contained in the case materials that were seized during illegal searches performed in 2003 as the reading of the verdict in the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev enters its third week. The court dismissed the testimonies given by defence witnesses and allowed all of the documents seized by investigators. Read more »

The reading of the verdict in the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev inched toward its conclusion as the panel of judges from the Meshchansky Court nearly concluded its presentation of supporting evidence for charges relating to the two co-defendants. Read more »

The reading of the verdict in the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev continued today. Significant progress was made as the court concluded its presentation of evidence in finding the defendants in violation of Article 198 (personal income tax evasion) and likely concluded its analysis of Article 199 (conspiracy to evade corporate tax obligations by an organized group). Read more »

The panel of judges led by Judge Irina Kolesnikova concluded the reading of supporting evidence in finding Mikhail Khodorkovsky in violation of Article 315 of the Russian Criminal Code in the case of Apatit. The court began the presentation of its position on the charge of personal income tax evasion as found in Article 198. Read more »

The reading of Article 315, the malicious non-compliance with a court order, in the case of Apatit continued during today's proceedings. Read more »

During the first day of the second week of the reading of the verdict in the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the panel of judges extended the working day to six hours, double the time spent each day on reading the verdict during the first week. After concluding all charges relating to NIUIF only minutes into the proceedings, Judge Kolesnikova switched to charges relating to Apatit. Read more »

The reading by the three-judge panel of the explanation of the court's findings continued for the fifth straight day. The subject of today's reading focused on Article 315, the malicious non-compliance with a court order, within the context of the return of NIUIF shares to the Russian Federal Property Fund (RFPF). Read more »

The court continued to read its analysis of the crimes alleged by the prosecution in the case of NIUIF. The focus of today's analysis was the theft of NIUIF's shares by the organized criminal group led by Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. Read more »

The panel of judges led by Irina Kolesnikova continued the presentation of its findings in support of the prosecution's allegations relating to the privatization of the Samoilov Research Institute for Fertilizers, Insecticides, and Fungicides (NIUIF). Due to the large volume of information contained in the analysis being read by the judges, the discussion of NIUIF that had begun yesterday was not concluded today and will continue tomorrow. Read more »

Presiding Judge Irina Kolesnikova began today's proceedings by discussing the charge relating to Article 199 from the Criminal Code, tax evasion by a legal entity. The panel of judges was able to conclude the presentation of its position with respect to the arguments presented by the defence and prosecution teams concerning the charges of theft of Yukos assets and the theft of government funds by Andrei Krainov. Read more »

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