Russian prosecutors have failed to produce conclusive evidence to indict Mikhail Khodorkovsky of the second set of charges against him, the former CEO of the Yukos oil company said on Wednesday.
He said that during the 19 months of the trial the prosecutor's office also failed to prove that he had committed any crimes.
"I have maintained in court that all my actions are lawful while the prosecution was unable to prove they were unlawful," he said, adding that it is up to the prosecution to prove that a defendant is guilty.
There were more than 400 inconsistencies in the prosecutors' allegations in court, Khodorkovsky said.
They only managed to prove that Yukos had engaged in regular economic activity, he said.
He described the prosecutor's statement in court as "a diversion rather than proof."
"I am sure that you [judge Viktor Danilkin] are competent enough to understand that the allegations made by the prosecutor's office are utter rubbish," he said.
Prosecutors demanded 14 years in prison for Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev in a second case against the businessmen.
Earlier in October, the prosecution asked a court to find the two men guilty of stealing 218 million tons of oil from a subsidiary company of Yukos between 1998 and 2003.
The prosecution has reduced by 131 million tons the volume of oil that Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were charged with stealing.
The two oligarchs are already serving eight-year sentences for fraud and tax evasion. In May, they were accused of stealing $9.6 billion from the $15.8 billion profit generated by Yukos between 1999 and 2003, as well as 350 million tons of oil.
Once Russia's richest man, Khodorkovsky claims the charges against him are politically motivated.
MOSCOW, October 27 (RIA Novosti)
