Verdict upheld

A Moscow appeals court on Tuesday upheld the guilty verdict against former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky for money laundering and embezzlement, but reduced his sentence by one year to 13 years.

Khodorkovsky has been in jail since 2003, after stirring opposition sentiment during Vladimir Putin's presidency. He was first convicted of tax evasion in 2005, together with his former business partner, Platon Lebedev.

Both men were scheduled for release this year, but the additional convictions last December extended their jail time until 2017. Tuesday's ruling means Khodorkovsky would be released in 2016.

The Kremlin critic appealed last year's sentence to the Moscow City Court, saying the case against him was obviously absurd and calling on the judges to throw it out.

"I don't need mercy and am not asking for a reduced sentence," he said from inside a glass-walled enclosure in the courtroom.

Trumped-up charges?

Khodorkovsky also called on President Dmitry Medvedev to follow through on his promises to uphold the rule of law.

"The president will have to make a choice on what he and Russia need: a state governed by the rule of law or the possibility of unlawful reprisals," he said. "You cannot have both."

The ruling last December was heavily criticized by human rights activists and foreign governments. Supporters say the charges were trumped up and made in retaliation for Khodorkovsky's financing of the Kremlin's opposition.

Prosecutors claimed that Khodorkovsky stole oil from the now-defunct company Yukos, which Khodorkovsky ran until his imprisonment.

Before the appeals court announced its ruling on Tuesday, Prosecutor Valery Lakhtin conceded that the amount of oil allegedly stolen was less than originally claimed, but argued that this should not merit a reduced sentence.

Author: Andrew Bowen (AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Susan Houlton