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Russian Court Upholds Khodorkovsky Verdict, Reduces Sentence by One Year

   VOA News  May 24, 2011
   Former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky stands behind a glass wall at a
   court in Moscow, Russia, May 24, 2011

Photo: AP

   Former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky stands behind a glass wall at a
   court in Moscow, Russia, May 24, 2011

   A Moscow court has upheld the second conviction of former Russian Yukos
   oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner in a move that
   will keep the two men in prison until 2016. Defense attorneys have
   vowed to appeal the case to the European Court of Human Rights in
   France.
   In a one-day appeal Tuesday, the Moscow City Court refused to overturn
   the second fraud conviction in a case that has drawn global
   condemnation. Khodorkovsky became a target for prosecutors in 2003
   after he launched a political challenge to then-President Vladimir
   Putin and began supporting the Russian leader's opponents.
   Khodorkovsky and his business partner, Platon Lebedev, were initially
   convicted of fraud and tax evasion in 2005 in connection with Yukos,
   which they had built into Russia's largest oil company. But the company
   has since been broken up and absorbed by the Russian state. Last
   December, they also were convicted of money-laundering and embezzlement
   and received an additional six-year sentence.
   Before Tuesday's court ruling, Khodorkovsky said President Dmitry
   Medvedev would have to decide what he and Russia need more - a state
   governed by the rule of law or the opportunity for unlawful judicial
   reprisals.
   Khodorkovsky and Lebedev say they are innocent victims of politically
   motivated charges.
   The Moscow City Court had initially been scheduled to hold the appeal
   hearing last Tuesday but unexpectedly delayed it. Defense lawyers in
   the case intimated it was delayed because Mr. Medvedev wanted to avoid
   embarrassing questions at a news conference the next day.
   At that news conference, Mr. Medvedev said the release of Khodorkovsky
   would pose no danger to the public. Prime Minister Putin, however,
   wants to keep him in jail.

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