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MOSCOW (AP) - Lawyers for Mikhail Khodorkovsky on Tuesday began rebutting the criminal case against the former CEO of Yukos oil company, saying in closing arguments that prosecutors had failed to prove any of the charges against the jailed tycoon who was once Russia's richest man.
Genrikh Padva, the head of Khodorkovsky's defense team, said Prosecutor Dmitry Shokhin failed to show that Khodorkovsky was directly involved in criminal events cited by the prosecution. Both Khodorkovsky and his business partner, Anton Lebedev, face up to a 10-year sentence if convicted on embezzlement, fraud, tax evasion and other charges.
"How do you defend yourself against statements that have not been proved?" Padva asked a packed courtroom at the start of his five-hour address. "This is a complete vacuum, and in this vacuum we must defend ourselves."
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