Yukos chief returns to court

Yukos tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky returns to court for a fourth day for the gruelling reading of the verdict in his fraud case today, with his frustrated lawyers speculating that the numbing pace is aimed at killing interest in the biggest trial in post-Soviet Russia.

Judge Irina Kolesnikova has already said that Khodorkovsky and co-defendant Platon Lebedev committed tax evasion, fraud and embezzlement, but has yet to formally state their guilt.