Yukos Gets its First Face-to-Face Hearing at ECHR

The following press release is being circulated today by the Yukos shareholders.

YUKOS Oil Company v. Russian Federation

Hearing in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)

The Court’s hearing on the case of YUKOS Oil Company v. Russian Federation will take place in Strasbourg on 14 January 2010, beginning at 09:00 (Central European Time). It will probably last about four hours.


It is unlikely that there will be a verdict on the day, but thiswill be the first time in more than 6 years of litigation thatrepresentatives of both sides will make their arguments face-to-face.The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is an independent judicialbody under the auspices of the Council of Europe, which has 47 memberstates, including the Russian Federation.

To get to this point – a hearing on the merits of the case – theECtHR had to have declared most of Yukos’s complaints ‘admissible’,which it does in less than 5% of the applications it receives.

Spaces in the courtroom are available on a first-come-first-servedbasis. Media wishing to attend in person should contact StefanoPiedimonte of the ECtHR at Stefano.Piedimonte@echr.coe.int

Yukos will hold a press conference for journalists following thehearing at about 14:00 (Central European Time) at a location to beannounced later. The following individuals will be made available viaconference call for comment:

Steven Theede, Former Chief Executive Officer
Bruce Misamore, Former Chief Financial Officer
Yuri Beilin, Former Deputy Chief Executive Officer (who will also conduct interviews in Russian)

Telephone numbers for the conference call will be announced before the hearing.

Background information on the case is available at: www.yukos-echr-claim.com

This portal is a comprehensive source of information about the case and includes:

• Summary: The Start, Success and Fall of Yukos
• The Expropriation Process: Spurious Tax Demands
• The Paralysis and Destruction of Yukos
• Claim in the European Court of Human Rights