RUSSIA: Judges in the trial of Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky (41) said yesterday he had led a "criminal group" in acquiring shares by deception, while a defence lawyer branded the hearing "an act of reprisal".
Judges, on the third day of what is turning into a marathon summing-up in the highly-politicised case of the former head of Yukos, made clear they agreed with prosecutors that he had committed crimes related to the seven charges against him.
They finished the day, however, without delivering formal verdicts or a sentence, although Mr Khodorkovsky's lawyers say the slant of the judges' comments indicate a guilty verdict is inevitable.
"We are seeing here an incredible distortion of defence evidence. It has exceeded our worst expectations," defence lawyer Yuri Shmidt told reporters during a recess.
"This is not a sentence. It is an act of reprisal."
The billionaire, once Russia's richest man, is on trial with business associate Platon Lebedev on charges of fraud, tax evasion and other crimes.
The trial, which has alarmed investors and hurt President Vladimir Putin's international standing, is widely seen as an attempt by the Kremlin to make an example of a political rival and warn Russia's business elite to keep out of politics.
Mr Khodorkovsky, founder of the now crippled Yukos oil firm, had been funding opposition parties before he was arrested at gunpoint in a raid on his private jet in Siberia 17 months ago.
A judge yesterday said a front company owned by Mr Khodorkovsky had acquired shares in a research institute by deception and at a low price by promising investment it never planned to undertake. "It was a pre-planned deception," he said.