WORLD BRIEFING / RUSSIA
Lawyers for jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky said they would call Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as a witness to fight embezzlement charges they say are politically motivated.
Khodorkovsky, a Kremlin critic who is serving an eight-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion, appeared in court for the first day of a new trial that could keep him in prison for 22 more years. Earlier pretrial hearings were closed to the public.
Supporters of Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man, have blamed Putin’s government for orchestrating the tycoon’s first trial in 2005, saying it was part of a campaign to clip the wings of powerful businesspeople.
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