Mikhail Khodorkovsky's lawyer said on Wednesday he had not been informed of the decision to postpone until December 27 the verdict announcement in the second trial of the former oil tycoon and his business partner Platon Lebedev.
"We were not officially informed that the announcement of the verdict had been postponed, and learned about it only in the media," Lawyer Vadim Klyuvgant said. "We are currently on our way to the court regardless in order to receive official confirmation."
Moscow's Khamovniki district court said earlier on Wednesday that the announcement, which was planned to begin today, would be postponed until 10 a.m. Moscow time [07:00 GMT] on December 27. The reasons for the postponement were not disclosed.
Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, who have already spent seven years in jail for tax evasion, are facing new charges of embezzling 218 tons of oil from Khodorkovsky's former oil firm Yukos, and laundering over 3 billion rubles ($97.5 million) in revenues that could extend their jail terms until 2017.
Both defendants have repeatedly maintained their innocence and claimed that the charges against them are politically motivated.
The defense for the two jailed businessmen earlier said prosecutors could press a third set of charges against ex-Yukos executives in the near future.
Crowds of people are standing in front of the court building in central Moscow, and more observers and journalists are reported to be coming.
MOSCOW, December 15 (RIA Novosti)
