Khodorkovsky facing new money laundering charges on eve of trial verdict News
Khodorkovsky facing new money laundering charges on eve of trial verdict

[JURIST] As anticipated [JURIST report], Russian prosecutors Friday announced plans to bring new charges of money laundering against Mikhail Khodorkovsky [BBC profile], former CEO of second-largest Russian oil firm Yukos [corporate website], and his business partner Platon Lebedev. Khodorkovsky is currently awaiting the expected May 16 verdict [JURIST report] in his trial [Khodorkovsky defense website] on charges of fraud and tax evasion, for which he could spend up to ten years in jail if convicted. Many observers believe the charges filed against Khodorkovsky are a result of his opposition to the Putin government; Russia's richest citizen, he began funding opposition parties in 2003. BBC News has more; MosNews has local coverage.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase:

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.