Shock and Then Boredom in Court.

(From The Moscow Times)

Even though the trio of judges made clear at the start of their 12-day reading of the verdict that Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev would be found guilty, it still came as a shock when the sentences were finally handed down Tuesday.

As Chief Judge Irina Kolesnikova pronounced a nine-year sentence for both Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, murmurs spread across the packed courtroom and sobs were heard as Khodorkovsky's wife, Inna, crossed her arms tightly against her chest in a struggle to hold herself together.

Khodorkovsky, once one of the country's richest and most powerful men, turned pale, and his voice quivered slightly when the judge asked whether he understood her ruling.

"The sentence is clear. I consider it a monument to 'Basmanny justice,'" he said, using a term that has become a byword for arbitrary justice in Russia since that court sanctioned his arrest in October 2003.

Khodorkovsky was clearly suddenly hit by the reality of what was happening. His father, Boris, who was standing near the defendants' cage, leaned over and whispered something to his son. Khodorkovsky's mother, Marina, meanwhile, held onto her husband tightly as if to prop him up and looked at her son with tears in her eyes.

Lebedev, whose behavior during the trial switched erratically from wild laughter at the prosecution's claims to a banal scowl as he worked out crossword puzzles, smiled ironically in response to the ruling. "No sane person would understand what you are saying," he said when asked by Kolesnikova whether he understood his sentence. Kolesnikova read out the charges against him and the sentence again.