ABSTRACT
This situation continued from 2000 to mid-2003. The state prosecutor-general, on July 2, 2003, launched an attack on the
central offices of Yukos. Armed and masked, the police stormed the building and in their assault arrested the main security officer, Aleksei Pichugin, and one of Yukos’ main shareholders, Platon Lebedev. The prosecutor-general charged that Yukos was suspected of murderous acts, theft and tax evasion in privatization deals dating back to 1994.2 Russia’s most respected human-rights organization condemned the repressive measures used by the prosecutor-general’s office.
