Court postpones hearing appeal in Yukos case

The Moscow city court has postponed hearings on protests from attorneys representing Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev against the Meshchansky court's ruling to prolong their detention to July 27.

The hearings were postponed because we intend to produce a number of clarifying documents, the attorneys told Interfax.

In addition, the judicial collegium of the Moscow city court plans to make inquiries into Lebedev's health.

"Lebedev's deteriorating health was one of the arguments used by his lawyers," lawyer Tatyana Lvova told Interfax.

Earlier, the attorneys said they would protest the Meshchansky court's June 8 ruling to leave the former heads of Yukos and Menatep in custody after their cases were joined. The defense wants the ruling quashed and the defendants released.

Lebedev's lawyers have filed seven appeals to the Meshchansky court to have him released from custody but failed to convince the court. Khodorkovsky's lawyers have filed three appeals.

The Russian Prosecutor General has brought seven charges against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, including large-scale fraud, non-compliance with a court ruling, corporate and personal tax evasion and document forgery.

Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are standing trial together with Andrei Krainov, former director of Volna, through which investigators believe Apatit shares were misappropriated.


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