Lawyer Yuri Shmidt: Number of Violations, Falsifications the Worst I Have Seen
In an interview for Radio Svoboda, defense lawyer Yuri Schmidt notes that in Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev's trial, the prosecutors have kept the defence team unaware of how long they plan to keep presenting evidence.
He points out that the documents are presented randomly to fill in the gaps in the hearings (following the absence of witnesses) and aim to disengage the public. Schmidt said: "The number of violations, obvious falsifications in this trial is the worst I have seen." He suggested that the possible dismissal of Justice Yarlyova who ruled for the case to be heard in Moscow might be a revenge of the government. She was the only judge to uphold a defense team complaint among the myriad of complaints filed in the course of the trial.