MOSCOW, July 15 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow's Meschansky district court heard an indictment today on the Mikhail Khodorkovsky case. The defendant pleaded innocent, our correspondent reports from the courtroom.
"I have perfectly understood the indictment. I see what I am accused of-and I say I am innocent," said the Yukos petroleum mammoth founder and recent proprietor.
The other two defendants also pleaded innocent. These are Platon Lebedev, Menatep bank president, and Andrei Krainov, once Volna joint-stock company boss.
The three would like to voice their opinion of the indictment, they said to the court. Khodorkovsky and Lebedev needed some time to prepare their statements, and so applied for a break. The court consented, and put off the hearings for tomorrow.
Khodorkovsky is indicted with eleven instances on seven Criminal Code clauses.
