16 June 2004 -- The trial of Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovskii on fraud and tax evasion charges was postponed to an unspecified date today, the day it opened in Moscow.
Defense lawyers say that the court agreed to reconvene at a later date to allow one of Khodorkovskii's lawyer, Genrikh Padva, time to recover from an eye operation.
The former chief executive officer of the Yukos oil company was arrested last October and is being jointly tried with business partners Platon Lebedev and Andrei Krainov.
The three judge-panel is still meeting to consider a separate appeal by Khodorkovskii and Lebedev to be allowed to stay at home during the trial.
There was no word on when the trial will resume.
(Reuters/dpa/Ekho Moskvy/Interfax-ru)
The former chief executive officer of the Yukos oil company was arrested last October and is being jointly tried with business partners Platon Lebedev and Andrei Krainov.
The three judge-panel is still meeting to consider a separate appeal by Khodorkovskii and Lebedev to be allowed to stay at home during the trial.
There was no word on when the trial will resume.
(Reuters/dpa/Ekho Moskvy/Interfax-ru)