A Moscow court on Wednesday cut three years off the 15 1/2-year prison sentence of Alexei Kurtsin, a former Yukos manager convicted of embezzling and laundering 342 million rubles ($10.8 million), Interfax reported.
Kurtsin’s lawyers said the initial sentence exceeded the maximum punishment for money laundering by half a year.
The Moscow City Court refused to grant Kurtsin’s plea to reduce the sentence to 10 1/2 years, but decided he would serve his time in a regular, not maximum security, prison, which allows Kurtsin to plea for early parole after he has served half of his sentence. He has already spent 5 1/2 years in jail.
(MT)
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