No judge for Yukos case

The panel of judges hearing the Yukos suit against the Russian Tax and Levies Ministry has been changed again, Izvestia reports. Former judge Natalia Cheburashkina has been dismissed, while the new one, Olga Mikhailova withdrew yesterday because she said she had come under unprecedented media pressure. On April 14, the tax authorities conducted a field check of the oil major and allegedly discovered almost 100 billion roubles in unpaid taxes. They filed a suit in the Moscow arbitration court and won it on May 26. The company filed a suit in response, claiming the results were wrong.

However, the hearing has still not started. The only developments in court have been the change in the two judges. In both cases, they were dismissed on the request of the ministry.