Legal defense of ex-head of YUKOS Michael Khodorkovsky and former head of MFO «МЕNATEP» Platon Lebedev asks the court to subpoena prime minister Vladimir Putin.
Being the president Putin repeatedly met Khodorkovsky for discussion of questions of development and strategy of oil and gas branch. According to the lawyer, those meetings were prepared in appropriate way and Putin was given all materials about Khodorkovsky. As the lawyer noted, he can give evidences which materials have been studied during preparation for those meetings.
About 300 witnesses is specified in the same petition whom defense plans to subpoena.
Among them there are persons supervising various ministries and departments for the period of fulfillment of crimes incriminated to Khodorkovsky and Lebedev - Michael Kasyanov, Evgenie Primakov, Victor Tchernomyrdin, Boris Gryzlov, Nikolay Patrushev, Herman Gref, Igor Sechin and others.
Besides, the lawyers ask the court to subpoena management of companies Transneft, Rosneft and Gazprom, ITAR-TASS informs.
From editorial board: There's nothing surprising that the accused demand to subpoena supreme officials. Appearance of such person in the Russian court would be surprising. To tell you the truth, I can't recollect such precedents. The more so Hamovnichesky court of Moscow named petition of lawyers of Michael Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev about call as witnesses of the heads and members of the government of the Russian Federation for interrogation within the limits of the second criminal case concerning the former heads of "YUKOS" "premature", Interfax close to the Kremlin informed.
It is very strange, why the principle of equality of parties in court is being broken in the Russian Federation so openly. Namely openly, as personal participation of citizen Putin in Khodorkovsky's case is being looked through rather transparently. As well as in the case, for example, of citizen Shutov who also petitioned for invitation of citizen Putin (whom he new closely during former time) into the court, the result was the same.
It's very strange for the country which applies for presence of independent judicial system in it. We'll admit I had to have legal proceedings under claims of the whole number of vip-persons to my more than a modest person. But I never saw any of them in the court, though those moral sufferings which I brought to them by the articles were in detail registered in statements of claim. However it came in on neither of them to confirm it in court - what is interesting it also never came in on judges to invite those sufferers to judicial session.
Here and now I act as the respondent under the claim of the governor of Moscow Region Gromov who, judging by the materials of the case, made enormous efforts to provide my appearance in court. At the same time he for some reason he put no efforts to appear in court and to fancy of the judge by the depth of the sufferings.
Moreover, I will obligatory begin to petition for invitation of citizen Gromov in the court as I want very much to know what claims he has to me personally? At the same time I want to set a pair of "inconvenient" questions for press.
However the governor will not come personally to prove - yes, there is in the Russian courts equality of parties, yes, each citizen of the Russian Federation even being the governor, prime minister, president or simple scribbler-shchelkoper is equal before the law.
I am also very much afraid that the judge wouldn't demand appearance of the claimant in the court personally... Putin didn't come in the court to Khodorkovsky. It means that other have the same rights...
Аnatoly Baranov
