Hiding Evidence at the Khodorkovsky Trial

It’s funny how in back-to-back Russian show trials, the documents used to convict someone in the first, turn out to be exculpatory in the second.  Naturally they can’t be located now.  From the Associated Press:

Khodorkovsky said Monday that prosecutors are hiding documents that prove the allegedly stolen oil was legally transferred. He said his defensive strategy hinges on external audits and customs declarations that show the oil in question was delivered to a state pipeline company.

“This naturally excludes the possibility of theft,” Khodorkovsky said. Other than those documents, “I don’t need anything else whatsoever to defend myself,” he said.

Khodorkovsky’s lawyers say many of those documents were used as evidence against him in his first trial.

Stateprosecutor Valery Lakhtin dismissed allegations of deliberatelywithholding documents crucial to the defense, saying only that otherevidence would be introduced later in the trial.

Judge ViktorDanilkin refused a defense motion to suspend the case until thedocuments are produced, but vowed to send a request to the GeneralProsecutor’s Office that they be presented.