Now the appeal court is also involved

On Thursday the Chita Region Court turned down the appeal by Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s lawyers against the decision of the court of first instance.

On 1 August the Ingodinsky district court upheld in part the complaint by Khodorkovsky’s defence team concerning the action (inaction) of the investigators. This ruling concerned the lack of a contents list in 16 volumes of the criminal case, presented for familiarisation; the presence in two volumes of unread pages; and the failure to inform Khodorkovsky that the period of preliminary investigation had been extended.

The court, however, did not uphold defence demands that the formal refusal by the investigation to add to the case materials the accounting data bases in electronic form of enterprises that made up the Yukos holding was unlawful.

The court considered that this issue should be studied when the case was examined on its merits. The court also did not support assertions that the investigation had been conducted secretly, without the knowledge of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev.

On Thursday Khodorkovsky’s lawyers said that the Ingodinsky district court had failed to examine their demand for the electronic data bases to be added to the case materials. This decision was unlawful and they demanded it be overturned.

The representative of the prosecutor’s office said the decisions were lawful and that Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s constitutional rights had not been violated. She turned down requests for the electronic data base, giving as one of her arguments that the “data base could be destroyed”. “The decision of the Ingodinsky district court is lawful and founded. All the arguments of the defence have been given due consideration. There has been no violation of access to justice,” she declared.

Khodorkovsky’s lawyers consider the refusal of the Chita Region Court to uphold their appeal against the decision of the Ingodinsky district court a substantial infringement of their own rights and those of their client.

“The Ingodinsky district court refused to add to the materials of the criminal case the financial and accounting data bases of Yukos as preserved in electronic form,” lawyer Boris Gruzd told Interfax-Siberia. “The lack of these documents in the case files deprives the defence of the possibility of checking the facts included in the expert assessment and this is a substantial infringement of the rights of Khodorkovsky and his defence.” He clarified that the expert assessment of Yukos’ financial and budgetary records had been conducted without the participation of the lawyers and Khodorkovsky and they could not vouch for its objectivity.

“Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s detention in custody has been extended until 2 February 2009. There is time to check the results of the expert assessment and present the investigation with evidence. However, the appeal court decided this issue will be resolved when the case is examined on its merits and is not for the court of the first instance to decide,” commented the lawyer.

(Interfax, 23.10.2008)