Yukos's Khodorkovsky Expected To Be Found Guilty

NY Sun ^ | 4/25/05 | MICHAEL MAINVILLE

[wagglebee]

MOSCOW - It had the beginnings of a classic courtroom drama: Russian special forces storming the private jet of one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the country; an 800-page indictment outlining charges of massive tax evasion and fraud; allegations of political persecution ordered from the highest reaches of the Kremlin.

But as the trial of the Russian oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky crept forward over the last 10 months, it became clear his story was lacking the most important element of any drama: suspense.

When the trial's judge, Irina Kolesnikova, hands down her verdict on Wednesday, no one, not even his own lawyers, is expecting Mr. Khodorkovsky to get off.

"We've known from the beginning there was no chance of an acquittal," a lawyer on his international defense team, Robert Amsterdam, said. "There is no independent judiciary in Russia - this is a show trial. They mouth the words, but they're empty of meaning."

For Mr. Khodorkovsky's supporters, the trial has been a sham, a stage-managed charade aimed at removing a potential political rival to President Putin and renationalizing his oil company, Yukos. They see his prosecution - and his likely conviction - as yet another sign of Russia's increasing drift away from democracy and as a warning to potential investors that the country is a dangerous place to do business.

The Kremlin denies any political motives. It likens the prosecution to the Enron case in America and says none of Russia's super-rich oligarchs - the handful of well-connected businessmen who control most of the country's wealth - are above the law.

[wagglebee]

This is a "coming attraction" of what we have to look forward to in America if Hitlery is ever elected president.

[Timedrifter]

Khordokovsky makes Ken Lay look like a candidate for the Trustworthy CEO award. These chargers are only the tip of the iceberg. Back in the mid 90s he had goons go into a mining town and sign over their stock certificates for a fraction of their real value. Portraying this guy as some martyr for democracy is a big mistake.

[Lion in Winter]

BTTT

[Romanov]

Funny - he knows he'll be declared guilty because he is guilty. If we had a Khodorkovsky-type in the US we'd all be screaming to string him up.

[Red Sea Swimmer]

There are Jews who love their nation that they dwell in and seek its welfare, and there are Jews who do the opposite.

How do you spell, "Crook" in Russian ?