MOSCOW, July 7 (UPI) -- A Russian court has postponed its hearing into the case of a Yukos oil company employee accused of two murders, the Moscow Times said Wednesday.
Alexey Pichigun, an employee of Yukos' economic security department is accused of committing a double murder. But the Moscow City Court has postponed a hearing in his case until July 28, the Moscow Times said. The hearing was delayed because of the illness of the lawyer of a second defendant in the case, the paper said.
Yukos is Russia's largest oil company and faces ruin because it says it cannot pay an enormous federal tax bill of $3.4 billion due Thursday. Yukos chief shareholder and former chief executive officer Mikhail Khodorkovsky is in jail in Moscow awaiting trial on charges of fraud and tax evasion.
