By Conor Humphries
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Lawyers defending fallen Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky Wednesday demanded the removal of the presiding judge at his trial on new charges of embezzling more than $25 billion (18 billion pounds).
Khodorkovsky, an oil tycoon who fell foul of the Kremlin under former President Vladimir Putin, is attending preliminary hearings at a new trial that could add 22 years to his current eight-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion.
The fate of Khodorkovsky, whose arrest in 2003 by armed FSB security agents sent shockwaves through the Russian business elite, is being watched for any signs of leniency under Putin's successor Dmitry Medvedev.
Defence lawyers said they had demanded the presiding judge at the Khamovnichesky court, Viktor Danilkin, rule to dismiss himself after they were not given the chance to table motions on the court's jurisdiction.
"We are waiting to hear if the presiding judge accepts the defence's request for his removal and then we will decide what to do next," Khodorkovsky's lawyer, Natalya Terekhova, told reporters outside the courtroom at a break in proceedings.
His lawyers said the move was a "last resort" after the judge had dismissed several of their motions Tuesday, including demands to change the state prosecutor and remove Khodorkovsky from a glass walled cage in the courtroom.
"We do not understand why the Khamovnichesky court is the appropriate court to try this case," said Vadim Kluvgant, Khodorkovsky's lead defence lawyer.
Prosecutors say Khodorkovsky, once ranked as Russia's richest man, embezzled 900 billion roubles (18 billion pounds) and laundered 500 billion roubles.
His lawyers say the new charges are absurd because their client is charged with stealing more oil from the YUKOS oil company that he controlled than it produced during the years in question.
Khodorkovsky, who was convicted of fraud and tax evasion in 2005, says he is the victim of corrupt officials who feared his political ambitions and wanted to carve up his YUKOS business empire, which produced more oil than OPEC member Qatar.
