Fresh charges of money laundering and fraud against former oligarchThe Russian former oligarch Mik-hail Khodorkovsky appeared in court in Moscow yesterday at the start of hearings in a new criminal case that could send him back to prison for 20 more years. The former chief of the Yukos oil company, Mr Khodorkovsky was Russia's richest man until his arrest in 2003. Dressed in jeans and a black sweater, with his grey hair cropped short, he made his first public appearance in the Russian capital since being sentenced to eight years in prison in 2005. Alongside him was his former business partner, Platon Lebedev, who is also serving an eight-year sentence. Both face new charges of money-laundering and embezzlement.Security was tight at the Khamovnichesky Court, a scruffy building overlooking the Moscow River in the centre of the capital. The road had been closed to pedestrians and police patrolled the street with sniffer dogs ahead of Mr Khodorkovsky's arrival. The initial hearings were closed to the press, with television cameras allowed into the main courtroom for just a few minutes before proceedings started at midday. There were chaotic scenes outside the court during the hour before, with journalists jostling for admission, and lawyers for the defence elbowing their way through to get into the court.
The Russian former oligarch Mik-hail Khodorkovsky appeared in court in Moscow yesterday at the start of hearings in a new criminal case that could send him back to prison for 20 more years. The former chief of the Yukos oil company, Mr Khodorkovsky was Russia's richest man until his arrest in 2003.
Dressed in jeans and a black sweater, with his grey hair cropped short, he made his first public appearance in the Russian capital since being sentenced to eight years in prison in 2005. Alongside him was his former business partner, Platon Lebedev, who is also serving an eight-year sentence. Both face new charges of money-laundering and embezzlement.
Security was tight at the Khamovnichesky Court, a scruffy building overlooking the Moscow River in the centre of the capital. The road had been closed to pedestrians and police patrolled the street with sniffer dogs ahead of Mr Khodorkovsky's arrival. The initial hearings were closed to the press, with television cameras allowed into the main courtroom for just a few minutes before proceedings started at midday. There were chaotic scenes outside the court during the hour before, with journalists jostling for admission, and lawyers for the defence elbowing their way through to get into the court.
Meeting with a number of Russian gazillionaires in various fancy settings (I was able to try out a number of nice Parisian restaurants) has left me with the pleasant feeling that they are not that different from us, in fact.
But Khodorkhorvski did impress more than others. Beyond being smart and determined, he was clearly more disciplined. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Did Medvedev Give Khodorkovsky A Lift To His Trial? THE MEETING SOUNDS LIKE A SCREENWRITER'S DREAM: incarcerated ex-oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, flying across Siberia to the former's trial in Moscow -- on the latter's presidential plane. Strange as it seems, eyewitnesses who saw the plane before takeoff believe it really happened. Khodorkovsky, whose oil company was gutted by the Kremlin after he expressed political aspirations in 2003, has been in a Siberian prison since 2005. On February 19, President Medvedev paid an official visit to Chita, a Siberian city not far from the prison. The next day, Khodorkovsky arrived in Moscow to stand trial. Witnesses say the plane used to transport Khodorkovsky bore the presidential standard along with the logo of the private government airline reserved for top Kremlin officials. There has been no official confirmation from the government that the president gave Khodorkovsky a lift to his trial, but it would be foolish to expect one.
THE MEETING SOUNDS LIKE A SCREENWRITER'S DREAM: incarcerated ex-oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, flying across Siberia to the former's trial in Moscow -- on the latter's presidential plane. Strange as it seems, eyewitnesses who saw the plane before takeoff believe it really happened.
Khodorkovsky, whose oil company was gutted by the Kremlin after he expressed political aspirations in 2003, has been in a Siberian prison since 2005. On February 19, President Medvedev paid an official visit to Chita, a Siberian city not far from the prison. The next day, Khodorkovsky arrived in Moscow to stand trial. Witnesses say the plane used to transport Khodorkovsky bore the presidential standard along with the logo of the private government airline reserved for top Kremlin officials. There has been no official confirmation from the government that the president gave Khodorkovsky a lift to his trial, but it would be foolish to expect one.
"You repatriate some of the billions you stashed, and your late appeal might be successful".
"...and my bank account number is....." "Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky
