Russia's richest man faces June 16 court date

A Moscow court ruled today that Russia’s richest man, oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, will be tried with another key shareholder in beleaguered oil company Yukos and set a hearing date for next week.

The court approved a defence request to combine Khodorkovsky’s case with the case of Platon Lebedev and scheduled the first hearing for June 16.

The decision came more than two hours after Khodorkovsky was led into the court for a continuation of the first preliminary hearing in the politically-charged trial.

The hearing, which opened on May 28, was adjourned following hours of procedural motions.

The two defendants face many of the same charges, and combining their cases could lighten the burden on their lawyers. “It is logical to try the cases together,” said defence lawyer Genrikh Padva.

“If they were separate, we wouldn’t be able to know what the other party is doing, and we wouldn’t be able to fully defend our client.”

Relatives and supporters crowded the corridor outside the court, where the hearing was being held behind closed doors.

Khodorkovsky’s mother, Marina, stood up on a bench and shouted his nickname “Misha!” as he was taken in for the hearing. She wore a scarf in Yukos’ green and yellow colours.

After the hearing, Khodorkovsky’s father Boris peered through a crack in a metal gate outside the courthouse, trying to catch a glimpse of his son.

Khodorkovsky, the 40-year-old former chief of Yukos, has been jailed since October on charges including fraud and tax evasion linked to his ascent to control of natural and financial resources that made him Russia’s richest man with an estimated €12.2bn.

Many see his arrest and the relentless probe by state prosecutors and tax officials into Yukos as Kremlin-backed retaliation for political aspirations and policy statements seen as threatening to the administration of President Vladimir Putin.