Yes, I understand it's a show trial. Yes, I understand the second accusations contradict the first. However, I couldn't care less. When the Soviet Union fell the current oligarchs, Khodorkovsky included, were given state assets for next to nothing. When Putin came to power, he give the oligarchs a simple choice: you were given state asset for next to nothing. If you bend to my will you can keep them. If you don't I will punish you. Most of the oligarchs did as they were told but, somehow, Mr. Knodorkovsky felt that his running of the firm had legitimized how he got the assets. It's like the head of a criminal enterprise trying to go legit. So, he supported opposition candidates. Now, he's fucked and the West is making him out to be some type of hero. He isn't. Khordorkovsky simply forgot who he was, a pillager of state assets who was beholden to his masters, and Putin reminded him. There are no heroes in this story.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12081564
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12081564
Russian oil tycoon Khodorkovsky found guilty in trial
Former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been found guilty of embezzlement at his politically charged second trial in Moscow.
The judge said Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev were guilty of stealing from their firm Yukos and laundering the proceeds.
Khodorkovsky is already serving an eight-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion from his 2005 trial.
His supporters maintain the case against him is politically motivated.
Khodorkovsky, 47, was due to be released next year, but the new convictions could see him jailed until 2017.
The two defendants were led into court in handcuffs by armed guards.
In the sealed glass dock Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man. waved at his parents, the small courtroom packed with journalists and cameras.
Several hundred demonstrators could be heard outside the courtroom, chanting "Freedom!" and "Put Putin [the Russian prime minister] in jail!"
Police made a number of arrests.
Only a handful of reporters were present as the judge read out the first few pages of the verdict, and they were later asked to leave.
"The court has established that Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev committed embezzlement acting in collusion with a group of people and using their professional positions," the judge said.
Delivering the full verdict and sentence is expected to take several days.
Khodorkovsky's lawyers have already said they will appeal.
'Sick state'
In the latest trial, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are accused of stealing hundreds of millions of tonnes of oil from the now defunct Yukos oil company,and laundering the proceeds, in the years 1998-2003.
Khodorkovsky lawyers say Vladimir Putin is applying pressure to courts
He has denounced the charges as rubbish.
Khodorkovsky has said that a state that destroys its best companies and trusts only the bureaucracy and the special services is a sick state.
Many critics believe the government wants the former tycoon kept behind bars for as long as possible because he financed the opposition when Vladimir Putin was president.
Mr Putin - now Russia's prime minister - referred to Khodorkovsky in a televised question-and-answer session last week, when he said he believed "a thief belongs in prison".
Khodorkovsky's lawyers said Mr Putin's comments "removed all doubt about who puts pressure on the court".
Russian human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva said the verdict announced on Monday had not come as a surprise.
"I expected this judgement. But all the same I am upset," she said.
"The judge would have had to be a hero to have given an acquittal verdict."
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