The Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev fears that a Moscow court will hand down a guilty verdict in his trial on hooliganism charges despite the fact that the case appears to be falling apart.

Only two prosecution witnesses appeared at a court hearing on Monday, where Lebedev pleaded not guilty to charges of battery and "hooliganism motivated by political hatred" for punching a fellow businessman during the filming of a television show in 2011. The prosecution had called more than a dozen witnesses, but most refused to show up.

The recipient of the punch, Sergei Polonsky, a disgraced property magnate, has not lived in Russia for many months and has not attended a single court hearing. Earlier this year he spent time in a Cambodian prison for allegedly assaulting a group of local boatmen. He is now believed to be in Europe or Israel.

Lebedev insists the trial is politically motivated, designed to punish him for carrying out corruption investigations into top Russian officials, including those inside the powerful Federal Security Service (FSB), and for his ownership of Novaya Gazeta, the country's chief investigative newspaper.

"It doesn't mean anything," he said, commenting on the lack of witnesses and Polonsky's failure to appear in court. "It just means that the case is completely trumped up, fabricated, invented from A to Z."

Lebedev was charged last September, a year after he punched Polonsky during the filming of a chatshow about the global financial crisis on NTV, a state-run television channel. He has apologised for inappropriate behaviour but says he was acting in self-defence.

He remains baffled by the charge that he was motivated by "political hatred", since the chatshow did not touch on political themes. "I do not recognise my guilt and I do not understand the charges," Lebedev told the court on Monday.

One witness called by the prosecution, Anna Savina, who was in the studio audience, appeared to support Lebedev in her testimony.

"Polonsky was like a bad child," she told the court. "He was unhappy with something during the whole programme, was always saying something, interrupting. Most of his unhappiness was focused on Lebedev."

Asked by Lebedev's lawyer whether Polonsky had threatened to hit someone in the face, Savina answered: "Yes. That phrase was uttered not long before the conflict." The second witness, a camera operator, testified that he had not witnessed the punch.

"There is nothing real about the case," Lebedev said. "Luckily it's not 1937," he said, referring to the height of Stalin's purges. "They don't bring up evidence that looks suspicious and don't kill anyone."

The trial is due to resume on Thursday. "It seems like the judge wants to do everything quickly," Lebedev said.

Lebedev's lawyers demanded that Polonsky appear at the trial, but the judge replied that court bailiffs had no jurisdiction outside of Russia's borders.

"He is the most important witness of the prosecution," Lebedev said. "We will demand they not issue a verdict without having him in the box. But I have my doubts."