Court to resume reading of Yukos case verdict on December 30

08:28, 30 December 2010

MOSCOW. December 30. KAZINFORM Moscow's Khamovniki Court on Wednesday adjourned the reading of the verdict in the case against former YUKOS CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev, who were found guilty of thefts of oil and laundering of sale proceeds. The court is due to resume the verdict announcing on Thursday, December 30; Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass.

"The session is over for today; we'll resume at 10 o'clock in the morning," judge Viktor Danilkin said.

Wednesday was the third day of the reading of the verdict. The judge has been analyzing the prosecutors' evidence to motivate his conclusion on the defendants' guilt. He will also give his evaluation to the evidence presented by the defense.

As the reading of the verdict began on Monday, the judge said Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were guilty of stealing 218 million tons of oil from producing companies and laundering the sale proceeds worth 487 million roubles and 7.5 billion dollars.

At the same time, the court dropped certain criminal charged against the defendants due to the statute of limitation. Lebedev's lawyer Konstantin Rivkin referred particularly to the episode concerning the theft of Eastern Oil Company (VNK) shares; Kazinform cites Itar-Tass.

See www.itar-tass.com for full version.

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