Khodorkovsky Complains Court Limits Contact With Lawyers

The jailed founder of Russia's troubled Yukos oil company asked here Monday to be allowed to talk with his lawyers during court sessions, but judges dismissed the motion as being outside their competence, news agencies said.

"The conditions for lawyers to consult with their client have changed," Genrikh Padva, a lawyer representing former Yukos chief executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky, told the tribunal hearing the state's case against the company's founder.

Padva complained that guards who escort Khodorkovsky from his prison cell to the courtroom, where he sits in a steel cage to observe the proceedings, prevented him from passing documentary evidence to his client for study during court sessions.

It was not clear whether such contact had been allowed previously in the courtroom.

Judge Irina Kolesnikova rejected Padva's motion to be given better access to his client.

"The court does not prevent lawyers from meeting with defendents during breaks in the proceedings," she said.

"As far as the handing over of court documents, this is a decision for the escorts, not of the court."

Khodorkovsky has been charged with tax evasion and embezzlement in connection with his acquisition of formerly state-owned entities that today consistitute the Yukos empire.

Many outside Russia regard his legal troubles as a Kremlin vendetta in response to Khodorkovsky's funding of political movements opposed to President Vladimir Putin.

Khodorkovsky has pleaded innocent to all charges.

HERE