Khodorkovsky's lawyers to meet PACE representative

Mr. Khodorkovsky's lawyers plan to meet with the PACE representative on Wednesday, May 26, a lawyer of the ex-head of YUKOS, Karina Moskalenko, told RIA Novosti.

According to her, at the meeting Mr. Khodorkovsky's defense intends to raise the questions of violation of human rights and of the European Convention on Human Rights. It is first of all the question of illegal, in the lawyers' opinion, keeping Mikhail Khodorkovsky in custody.

Ms. Moskaleno noted that the defense of the ex-head of YUKOS more than once asked the court to change Mr. Khodorkovsky's measure of restraint for any other not connected with imprisonment. The lawyers asked, in particular, to let Mr. Khodorkovsky out on bail, or to take a decision to put him under home arrest.

Furthermore, it is planned to discuss the question of the limitation of the time for familiarization with the materials of the criminal case by Mr. Khodorkovsky.

According to the lawyer's calculations, her defendant had less than 100 workdays to familiarize himself with more than 200 volumes of the criminal case. "Mikhail Khodorkovsky had less than one day for reading approximately two and a half volumes," the lawyer went on to say. She recalled that, in keeping with the law, an accused person has the right to familiarize himself with the materials of the case on his own. "He may make necessary extracts, and also repeatedly return to reading the volumes," Ms. Moskalenko noted.

In her opinion, by limiting the time for the familiarization with the materials of the criminal case to May 15 the Basmanny court violated the defendant's rights.

On April 23 the Basmanny court of Moscow restricted the time for familiarization with the materials of the case by Mr. Khodorkovsky and his lawyers to May 15. The court thereby satisfied the petition of the Russian Federation's Prosecutor-General's Office. On May 25 the Moscow City Court confirmed legality of the Basmanny court's ruling, thereby turning down the appeal of Mr. Khodorkovsky's lawyers.

Mr. Khodorkovsky is charged under seven articles of the Russian Federation's Criminal Code, among them massive fraud and tax evasion. The preliminary hearings of Mikhail Khodorkovsky's criminal case will begin in the Meshchansky court of Moscow on May 28.