Moscow, May 24 (Interfax) - A state prosecutor claimed that pressure was being put on the judges by the defendants Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev and their defense lawyers, not by representatives of the Russian leadership, during the pre-trial probe into the second Yukos case.
"Pressure was coming from Khodorkovsky, Lebedev and their defense lawyers, not from our leadership," a prosecutor said at the Moscow City Court, which on Tuesday is hearing a compliant against the guilty verdict handed down to Khodorkovsky and Lebedev by Moscow’s Khamovnichesky Court.
"The defense lawyers’ claims that pressure was being put on the judges by high-placed officials through public statements in the media on Khodorkovsky’s guilt are far-fetched. The defense lawyers’ attempts to link the answer by the head of state to journalists’ question and portray that as pressure on the court hold no water," the prosecutor said.
"High-ranking officials did not give assessments to the charges brought against Khodorkovsky. Nor did they analyze the evidence gathered," he said.
