September 23, 2005

Prosecutor General Wants All of Khodorkovsky's Lawyers’ Status Revoked

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has requested that Khodorkovsky’s lawyers, with the exception of Genrikh Padva, be stripped of their law licenses. The lawyers who are currently under scrutiny are Yuri Schmidt, Anton Drel, Denis Dyatlev, Karinna Moskalenko, Elena Levina, Igor Mikheev, Albert Mkrtychev, Vladimir Sergeev and Irina Artukhovoi. Yuri Shmidt was added to the list later, being accused of "lack of respect to the court and the rule of law."Natalia Veshnayakova, the official spokesperson for the General Prosecutor’s Office stated that the request had been made to the Justice Ministry on the basis that Khodorkovsky had used "criminal methods" in every area, “and the lawyers used these methods, which were close to criminal.”

(Source: Interfax.)