Oil tycoon Khodorkovsky 'will be found guilty'
16/05/2005 - 12:22:38The Russian court reading the complex verdict in the fraud and tax evasion trial of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has adjourned until tomorrow and his supporters said the phrasing of the first portion left little doubt he would be found guilty.
The adjournment was called about three hours after the judge began reading the verdict aloud.
Under the Russian legal system, the verdict is not a simple pronouncement of guilt or acquittal but a long statement of the facts of the case before the decision is stated.
Judge Irina Kolesnikova’s reading included phrases such as “lying information” and “acting as part of a criminal group” that Khodorkovsky’s lawyers saw as a sure sign that he would be found guilty.
“There is a school of thought that says they haven’t been found guilty, but the conventional wisdom is that they will be,” said John Papallardo, an American lawyer for Khodorkovsky and co-defendant Platon Lebedev.
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