Maxim Marmur/Agence France-Presse
Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, shown at
his trial in 2004, has been serving an
eight-year prison term.
Posted on 02/05/2007 5:33:14 PM PST by bd476
Russian prosecutors brought new charges Monday against the imprisoned founder of the Yukos oil company and one of his business partners, opening a new line of legal attack against a Kremlin opponent.
The former executive, Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, and his partner, Platon A. Lebedev, were charged with embezzlement and money laundering, which his lawyers said together could carry prison sentences of 15 years.
The two men have been held since their arrests in 2003, and are serving eight-year sentences for tax evasion and other charges. Their lawyers said they had potentially qualified for parole late this year, when they would have served half of their sentences.
The new charges, which accused the men of embezzling about $20 billion in Yukos revenues, appeared to destroy that possibility and opened a new chapter in the long saga of Yukos’s legal troubles.
The men were brought to face the charges with little fanfare, though with substantial security, in the eastern Siberian city of Chita, to which they had been transferred in December from the separate penal colonies where they had been serving their sentences.
Russian prosecutors remained largely quiet about the charges throughout the day and did not publicly release details of the charges or supporting documents. Essential details remained unknown even to the international defense lawyers for the men, including the dates and detailed accounts of the crimes of which they are accused.
Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev's defense lawyers promptly denounced the new charges as baseless. They said they were a means to keep Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev in prison beyond Russia's presidential election in early 2008 and throughout the remainder of the liquidation of Yukos, their former oil giant, which is in Russian receivership...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I wonder if Putin will tax their profits ???
So when are they going to charge Putin?
Right.
Tax Putin's own profits? Oh sure. /s
Ping.
"Their lawyers said they had potentially qualified for parole late this year...
The new charges.... appeared to destroy that possibility ..."
WOW - I never saw that coming. Welcome to the new Salt Mines
Big surprise, eh?
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