Besides, Khodorkovsky has got international connections and can get away on being released from custody.
The judge said: "The ruling of the Meshchansky court of Moscow, issued on March 24, shall be left without any alteration while the lawyers' appeal without satisfaction."
Khodorkovsky's lawyers asked for canceling the district court's arrest extension ruling as illegal and unsubstantiated.
"This happened almost two months before the expiry of the term and naturally the defense was not prepared," said the lawyer Karina Moskalenko representing the interests of Khodorkovsky. She added that the Constitutional Court adopted recently a ruling which explained to district court the process of extending the term of detention.. In her opinion, the Meshchansky cout ruling runs counter to the decision of the Constitution court.
Khodorkovsky's term expired on May 14, 2005 but the presiding judge Irina Kolesnikova decided on her own, without any petition from the prosecution side, to prolong the term of Khodorkovsky's stay in detention cell for another two months until July 14.
Kolesnikova accounted for her decision by the fact that the legal proceedings would not be over before May 14 while Khodorkovsky could go into hiding and bring pressure to bear upon the witnesses.
Now in the consultative room, the court that includes three federal judges plans to make its judgement public on April 27. When speaking in the debate, the prosecutor Dmitry Shokhin asked the court to sentence Khodorkovsky and Lebedev to ten years in general-regime prison. He also insisted on depriving Khodorkovsky and Lebdev of the right to be associated with federal and local self-government agencies for three years.
The two have been indicted on seven charges, including tax evasion and large-scale fraud.
