The Khamovniki district court in Moscow will begin on Wednesday the announcement of a verdict in the new trial of former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev.
The entire procedure may take as long as a week, but the general nature of the verdict - either in favor or against the defendants - will become clear already during the first court session.
Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, who have already spent seven years behind bars for tax evasion, are facing new charges of embezzling 218 tons of oil from Khodorkovsky's former oil firm Yukos and laundering over 3 billion rubles ($97.5 million) in revenues. If found guilty, the two men face another seven years in jail.
Both defendants have repeatedly maintained their innocence and claimed that the charges against them were politically motivated.
Observers say it is highly likely that the two men will be found guilty as it is in the Kremlin's interests to keep them in jail for as long as possible.
The defense for Khodorkovsky and Lebedev earlier said prosecutors could press a third set of charges against ex-Yukos executives in the near future.
MOSCOW, December 15 (RIA Novosti)
