Former oil tycoon, Russia's richest man charged with arranging a murder

MOSCOW, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, formerly Russia's richest man, was charged in absentia Friday in Moscow with organizing the murder of a Russian mayor and attempted murder of two other men.

The Russian Investigative Committee placed the former head of the Yukos oil company on a wanted list after the indictment. Khodorkovsky lives in Switzerland.

He is accused of orchestrating the 1998 slaying of Vladimir Petukhov, the mayor of Nefteyugansk. He has also been charged with the attempted murders of Petuknov's bodyguard Vyacheslav Kokoshkin and director of Yukos rival East Petroleum Handelsgez, Vyacheslav Rybin.

A committee spokesman said the plots came about because the victims' "official activities ran counter to Yukos' interests."

Khodokovsky has denied involvement in the crimes and said, earlier this week, he had no intention to return to Russia to face charges but would answer any questions posed to him by Swiss authorities.

"I can say one thing: I won't take part in this show," he said of the Russian indictments.

On Friday, his press secretary, Kulle Pispanen, told the Russian TASS news agency, "There will be no reaction from Mikhail Borisovich [Khodorkovsky]," noting he "will not participate in this farce of law enforcers in the legal framework."

Petukhov was shot to death while walking to work in his Siberian city, after an unspecified conflict with the Yukos company. Alexey Pichugin, Yukos' former security chief, was sentenced to life imprisonment for Petukhov's death, and was also convicted of organizing three murders and four assassination attempts.

Khodorkovsky, 52, and business colleague Platon Lebedev were convicted of tax evasion and embezzlement in 2005, and were sentenced to prison. While in jail they were convicted on additional embezzlement and money laundering charges, but were pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Khodorkovsky in 2013 and Lebedev in 2014.