MOSCOW, July 24 (RAPSI) – The Khamovnichesky District Court of Moscow has refused to return the criminal case against Yukos oil company’s former lawyer Pavel Ivlev, who is charged with embezzlement, to prosecutors, RAPSI correspondent reports from the courtroom.

Attorneys representing Ivlev asked the court to return the case because the alleged crime was related to his activity as a lawyer, also saying that the charges themselves were incorrect. The judge, in turn, said that there were no grounds to this request. Prosecutors also objected to the motion in question.

Earlier, the court dismissed other motions of the defense, asking the court to bring politician Alexey Navalny into the trial as Ivlev’s lawyer and to organize a video conference with Ivlev, a U.S. citizen currently residing in the United States.

According to investigators, ex-lawyer was a member of an organized crime group led by ex-Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which could embezzle more than 195 million metric tons of oil belonging to Yuganskneftegaz, Samaraneftegaz and Tomskneft companies.

Investigators believe that the amount of embezzled funds reaches about one trillion rubles ($15.9 billion).