Supreme Court to Hear Khodorkovsky's Appeal

May 29, 2013

Russia's highest court says it has set a date for hearing appeals by jailed former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner.

The Supreme Court said Wednesday that it set the hearing for Aug. 6.

Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev were arrested in 2003 and convicted in 2005 of evading taxes on the Yukos oil company. The case was widely seen as a political punishment of Khodorkovsky, then Russia's richest man, for challenging the power of Vladimir Putin early in his presidency.

The two were tried together again in a second case and convicted in 2010 of stealing oil from Yukos and laundering the proceeds. Last December, the Moscow City Court reduced their prison sentence from 13 to 11 years, meaning they will be released in 2014.

(AP)

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