MOSCOW, January 23. /ITAR-TASS/. Prosecutor’s Office asks to mitigate the penalty for Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, a representative of the Prosecutor’s Office stated at a Supreme Court session on Thursday.
“We believe that actions of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev regarding illegal acquisition of NIUIF (Research Institute for fertilizers and insectofungicides — Itar-Tass) fall within indicia of article ‘Fraud in business’,” the prosecutor said, noting that as the statute of limitation has expired the defendants must be set free of penalty under this charge.
Upon this, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation asked to mitigate the penalty for Khodorkovsky and Lebedev regarding accumulative sentencing of Khamovnichesky and Meshchansky district courts of Moscow.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky was supposed to be set free from prison in August 2014. In late December, he was pardoned by the president and December 20, 2013 released from prison. In his petition for pardoning, the former Yukos head pleaded not guilty.
Prosecution: for the rest, sentences are justified
As for the rest, the state prosecution considers the sentences justified and substantiate. According to the prosecutor, the defendants’ guilt has been established by evidence gathered in the course of investigation. The criminal cases were reviewed thoroughly and fairly. The state prosecutor also considers correct recovery of damage directly from the defendants, since they were not employees of the enterprise, but its managers. Recovery of damage from an almost non-existing enterprise, as the prosecutor noted, could cause damage to the state.
Speaking about the ruling of the European Court, the state prosecutor noted that “violation by the court of the immediacy principle does not speak for the illegality of the ruling”. In addition, he said that there were serious reasons to keep Khodorkovsky and Lebedev in custody.
Meanwhile, the attorneys ask to abolish sentences of Khamovnichesky and Meshchansky courts as unlawful and groundless.