Judges Continue to Prolong Khodorkovsky Verdict

Believe it or not, oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky's verdict was delayed for the fourth day in a row. Judges adjourned the court after just 3 hours again. Defense lawyers in the trial have already been getting angry, claiming that it is unlawful for the court sessions to end so early rather than after a full work day. "My feeling is that it will take days and days," said lawyer Robert Amsterdam. "But as soon as the press loses interest it may speed up dramatically and there could be a verdict." Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky along with his business partner Platon Lebedev is on trial for 11 counts of fraud, embezzlement, and tax evasion. Khodorkovsky was arrested about a year and a half ago while Yukos was being investigated. Lebedev was arrested three months before that. The charges that both face have to do with the privatization of a fertilizer-component company in 1994. Many believe that Khodorkovsky is just the target of a Kremlin campaign to sabotage his political agenda, but the Kremlin denies this theory. As Reuters latest ebusiness news