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The Meshchansky district court of Moscow ruled Tuesday that Mikhail Khodorkovsky will be tried together with Platon Lebedev, another key shareholder in the YUKOS oil company. The hearing is scheduled for June 16. The case will be considered by three judges.
"This is a reasonable and legal decision," Mr. Khodorkovsky’s lawyer Genrikh Padva told reporters. He said the two businessmen were tried on the same charges. State Prosecutor Dmitry Shokhin also supported the court ruling.
A hearing in Mr. Lebedev’s case is scheduled for 16:00 on Tuesday, where Platon Lebedev will be notified that he would be tried together with Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
They are both accused of stealing a 20 percent government stake in the Apatit company. The businessmen are charged with fraud (Article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code), non-compliance with a court judgment (Article 315), tax evasion (Article 199), causing material damage by way of fraud and abuse of trust (Article 165), document forgery (Article 327) and appropriation of someone else’s property (Article 160).
Mr. Khodorkovsky is also accused of evading RUR 53m (about $1.7m) in income tax and payments to the Pension Fund in 1998-1999. He was arrested on October 25, 2003, at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
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