But the Manhattan district attorney declined to begin prosecution of a second motorcyclist who was arrested.
Once again, the government has lifted the statute of limitations so that it can begin prosecutions for crimes committed during the communist period that were not prosecuted for political reasons.
Speaking over breakfast at a Moscow restaurant, Mr Klymenko, a burly, bearded and jovial figure, said that after the revolution Roshen had refused to pay the penalty charges imposed by the tax investigation, and the government under Mr Poroshenko had meanwhile begun prosecutions of tax inspectors.
Critics of the military commission system seized on Judge Allred's ruling as the latest in a long line of challenges that have frustrated the Bush administration in its efforts since 2001 to begin war crimes prosecutions.
With the legal landscape clear at the moment for the prosecutions to begin, the military officials said the new courthouse would ease a potential logjam of trials.
Prosecutions may be brought by local authorities and must be started within six months from when the local authority has gathered enough information to begin legal proceedings, but prosecutions cannot be brought later than three years from when the offence was committed.
But not a single person has been held accountable, and there is currently no court that has jurisdiction over the Syrian war for prosecutions to begin.
The judge, Joan A. Lenard, ordered jury selection for the retrial to begin Jan . 7and barred prosecution and defense lawyers from discussing Thursday's outcome with reporters.
The December briefing took place after a federal grand jury had been convened in the case, suggesting that prosecutors had decided to begin hearing testimony with potential prosecution problems still unresolved.
The trial of former cabinet minister Chris Huhne and his ex-wife, Vicky Pryce, who are accused of perverting the course of justice over allegations that she took his penalty speeding points to protect him from prosecution, is to begin next Monday.
