Russia's richest man in court on controversial fraud charges

Russia's richest man and Kremlin foe Mikhail Khodorkovsky appeared in a Moscow court facing 10 years in jail on fraud charges in the most politically-charged case of President Vladimir Putin's rule.

The 41-year-old billionaire founder of Russia's largest oil producer Yukos is accused of defrauding the government of a billion dollars but Khodorkovsky claims the charges are part of a campaign of persecution by the Kremlin.


The keenly-watched case, which is expected to last up to four months, was adjourned until June 8.


Khodorkovsky's dramatic arrest seven months ago during a raid on his private jet during a stopover in Siberia also unleashed a campaign against his business empire which is at risk of falling into the state's hands.


"He is not guilty. I know my son," his mother Marina as she stood on a bench trying to get a glimpse of her son -- dressed in jeans and a blue pullover and handcuffed to a police officer -- as he was led into court.


Khodorkovsky denies the seven charges against him, which include tax evasion and fraud, and observers say his arrest was linked to his funding of opposition parties in December's parliamentary elections.


Analysts say the Kremlin could have picked on a handful of other tycoons with similar charges and suggest that it went after the Yukos chief because he was seen as a political threat.


The case forced Putin to use a state of the nation address this week to defend himself from accusations he is running an "autocratic" regime and vow to push forward democracy.


The main intrigue at Friday's hearing was whether the judge would allow Khodorkovsky to be tried with another detained Yukos shareholder Platon Lebedev, but that decision has also been delayed until June 8.


The Khodorkovsky case is also seen by some as a bid by Kremlin insiders linked to the secret services to take control of Russia's largest and most profitable oil producer.


Yukos warned Thursday it may have to declare bankruptcy after a court upheld the Russian tax ministry's demands that it pay nearly 3.5 billion dollars in back taxes -- a double blow that has seen its stock price crash more than 20 percent.


The market capitalization of Yukos stock has now lost 40 percent of its value since Lebedev's July arrest.


The Russian stock market -- once one of the most booming in the world -- has been wavering in recent weeks and also shed all of the gains it made since the start of the year.


Khodorkovsky's fortune had been estimated by Forbes magazine at the start of the year at 15.2 billion dollars.


The case has mesmerized investors and Russia's political analysts because it is likely to reveal Putin's exact intentions after he won a second term in office in a March election.


The other dozen or so tycoons who have also made fortunes through questionable deals in the raucous post-Soviet 1990s have not been picked on by the Kremlin except for two notable exceptions -- Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky.


Both held media interests that questioned the Kremlin's rule and fled the country as Putin came to power.

Underlining the case's political sensitivity, it received no mention on news bulletins of Russia state-controlled Rossia television, and there are few who believe that Moscow's notoriously politically-driven judicial system will acquit him.

"There is no hope for Khodorkovsky. He will be convicted and jailed, to the maximum degree," said Yury Korgunyuk, an analyst from the INDEM think-tank.

"Putin is concerned by Western criticism, it is not pleasant for him. But if he has to choose between jailing Khodorkovsky and pleasing the West, then his choice is clear," he said.


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