Russia court upholds Khodorkovsky appeal against investigation

Judges at the Chita District Court overturned a previous court ruling and upheld a joint appeal by former Yukos owner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and his business partner Platon Lebedev against a new investigation.

CHITA, October 13 (RIA Novosti) - Judges at the Chita District Court overturned a previous court ruling and upheld a joint appeal by former Yukos owner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and his business partner Platon Lebedev against a new investigation.

"The complaint has been referred to the Ingodinsk District Court for a new hearing with a new jury," a judge said on Monday.

In late July, Khodorkovsky and his business partner Lebedev, currently serving eight-year prison terms for fraud and tax evasion, filed a complaint against investigators after they refused to allow the defense to present new evidence in the case and failed to notify the defense of a hearing.

The Ingodinsk regional court referred the appeal on August 1.

Siberia's Chita District Court extended on October 8 Khodorkovsky's custody until February 9, 2009 as part of a new investigation into money laundering of $28.3 billion and theft of oil between 1998-2004.

Last Wednesday, Khodorkovsky was also placed in solitary confinement for 12 days after giving an interview to Esquire magazine, a week before an appeal hearing for early parole set for October 15.

However, Khodorkovsky has refused to adjourn the hearing. "I know [my lawyer] is overloaded with other cases, and asked him to go ahead with the hearings as planned for October 15," Khodorkovsky said.

Khodorkovsky has consistently maintained his innocence, saying he has been punished for supporting the country's pro-Western opposition, and that the subsequent liquidation of Yukos was engineered by corrupt government officials aiming to seize lucrative oil assets.