Court Rejects Khodorkovsky's Appeal

A Moscow court on Thursday rejected a defense motion to drop a key part of the criminal case against former Yukos oil company chief executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner, the Interfax news agency reported.

The Meshchansky district court ruled that charges that Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev illegally acquired a 20 percent stake in the Apatit fertilizer plant in 1994 should be left in place.

It was the second time the defense has tried to have that part of the case dropped, arguing that the statute of limitations had already expired. Last month, defense lawyers were told their request was premature. On Thursday, Judge Irina Kolesnikova once again rejected the plea, saying the court had not yet studied all the evidence pertaining to the case, Interfax reported.

Billionaires Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are facing charges of tax evasion, fraud and misappropriation, and if convicted could be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The case against them is part of a complex web of legal actions that includes a crushing 99.4 billion-ruble ($3.4 billion) back taxes bill for 2000 that Yukos says could force it into bankruptcy.

Many see the legal actions as a Kremlin-driven campaign to punish Khodorkovsky for his foray into opposition politics, and as a warning to other billionaire business owners not to meddle in government affairs.

Thursday's hearing was expected to begin the process of witness testimony for the prosecution, but it was cut short when Lebedev said he felt ill and his lawyers requested an ambulance. Medics gave Lebedev an injection to normalize his blood pressure, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Earlier, Lebedev's lawyers filed another motion to have Lebedev examined in an independent medical center, halt the trial until the checkup was completed and place him under house arrest instead of detention in a Moscow jail. The judge rejected those motions, saying the medical exam was a matter for jail officials to consider, not the court, Russia's NTV television reported.

Lebedev has been jailed since July 2003 and Khodorkovsky since October.

Meanwhile, the Federal Arbitration Court on Thursday rejected an appeal by Yukos to have a share issue from last year last year declared legal, ITAR-Tass reported. Yukos had issued the shares to acquire rival Russian oil company Sibneft, but the merger soon fell apart and Sibneft's original majority owner, tycoon Roman Abramovich's Millhouse Capital, has said the share issue was illegal.

Analysts have suggested Yukos is dragging out the process of a demerger to keep Abramovich tied up in Yukos for as long as possible. Abramovich is considered well-connected in the Kremlin and able to moderate the pressure on Yukos as long as his own financial interests are at stake, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

Despite the defeat, Yukos still owns 35 percent of Sibneft, which it acquired through other payments.

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