Russian oil tycoon Khodorkovsky ‘found guilty’

Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been found guilty in his second trial on charges of embezzlement, Russian news agencies say.

A judge in Moscow said Khodorkovsky and his business partner had been found guilty of embezzling property. The verdict is still being read out.

Khodorkovsky is already serving an eight-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion.

His supporters maintain the case is politically motivated.

Khodorkovsky, 47, was due to be released next year, but the second trial could see him jailed until 2017.

Germany’s warning

In the latest trial, Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev are accused of stealing hundreds of millions of tonnes of oil from the Yukos oil company and laundering the proceeds between 1998-2003.

He has denounced the charges as rubbish.

Khodorkovsky has said that a state that destroys its best companies and trusts only the bureaucracy and the special services is a sick state.

Many critics believe the government wants the former tycoon kept behind bars for as long as possible because he challenged former President Vladimir Putin by financing the opposition.

In a televised question-and-answer session last week, Mr Putin – who is Russia’s prime minister – referred to Khodorkovsky when he said he believed “a thief belongs in prison”.

Khodorkovsky’s lawyers said Mr Putin’s comments “removed all doubt about who puts pressure on the court”, adding that his comments would assist in an appeal against the verdict, should Khodorkovsky be found guilty.

On Saturday, Germany said it was following the trial very closely.

“This trial is considered a test of the rule of law in Russia,” German Ambassador to Russia Ulrich Brandenburg told Russia’s Interfax news agency.

Source: BBC