Former spokesperson of Moscow’s Khamovnichesky Court Natalya Vasilyeva has been interrogated by the Investigative Committee of Russia as a part of the probe into the proceedings of the court, following the request by the lawyers of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. The Russian Mafia (rumafia.com) reported that the lawyers of the ex-Yukos boss addressed head of the Investigative Committee Aleksandr Bastrykin with the written request to open criminal investigation into judge of the Khamovnichesky Court Viktor Danilkin, who extended Khodorkovsky’s prison sentence, and other judges of the Moscow City Court.

Vasilyeva told the investigators she did not see the judges of the Moscow City Court working on the draft of the verdict. No she heard Danilkin discuss the verdict with anybody else. However she presented investigator Drymanov with the copy of document which her lawyer described as the resolution of an “unread verdict”.

Three pages were crossed with a ball pen and marked with three exclamation marks on each page. The document says: “the final sentence of 10 years of imprisonment which should be served in penal colony of ordinary type is to be conferred to Khodorkovsky M.B.”.

Vadim Klyuvgant, Khodorkovsky’s lawyer said: “It is not the document that is interesting but the result of the probe by the Investigation Committee. The result will tell if there is a fair investigation after our request or it is a sham. It does not matter how many years are there on the document - be it 10 years or 10 days.”