Khodorkovsky’s defence team comment on the petition to limit his familiarisation with the case materials

Alexei Sokovnin, Kommersant, 14.11.2008

Yesterday it was learned that the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General's office has applied to the Ingodinsky district court in Chita for a shortening of the deadline by which Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev must complete reading the case materials. The new charges accuse them of stealing oil from Yukos subsidiaries and legalising criminal earnings. The investigation insist that the deadline should be 15 December. The investigators and prosecutor’s office are thereby attempting, believe the defence team, to ensure that a start is made on hearing the case even before the New Year.

The request was submitted to the Ingodinsky district court, according to our information, by Valery Alyshev, head of the investigative group with the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General's office. The petition says that the accused Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are deliberately drawing out the process of familiarisation. The investigators therefore request that a deadline of 15 December be imposed. The court is already processing the petition and will examine it on 17 November, as concerns Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and 18 November, as concerns Platon Lebedev.

Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, who are serving an 8 year sentence for their first conviction, are this time accused of misappropriating more than 349 million tons of oil from Yukos subsidiary production enterprises between 1998 and 2003, and of laundering 487 billion roubles and $7.5 billion.

The accused and their lawyers have reacted very negatively to the investigation petition. “Something of the kind concerning the second Yukos case already happened a year ago,” Khodorkovsky’s lawyer Vadim Klyuvgant told Kommersant. “In February 2007 we were informed that the investigation was completed and that we would receive all the materials to become acquainted with the evidence. In December 2007 the investigators tried to limit the time allotted for this purpose. But in the end the imposed restrictions were withdrawn on appeal. As we have learnt, the investigators have not ceased attempting to hinder our study of the case materials.”

The assertion of the investigators, that Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are dragging out the process, is not correct, say their lawyers. “There are 168 volumes of case materials,” Mr Klyuvgant explained. “Furthermore, the contents are constantly changing. From time to time the investigators include new materials that, in their view, confirm the prosecution’s opinion.” He added, “the defence team have several times petitioned to have new evidence added to the case but all their requests were rejected for invented reasons.” The investigation is deliberately creating obstacles, Klyuvgant believes, and depriving the defence of the chance to make serious preparations for the coming trial.

“All attempts to restrict the time we have to get acquainted with the materials of the criminal case against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev are aimed at disrupting the work of their defence lawyers,” Klyuvgant told Kommersant. “When you read these materials it is not a competition to see who can read fastest: it is work on the position that will be argued during the trial.”