MOSCOW, September 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Supreme Court has canceled the ruling of a lower court on the illegality of conducting a new criminal investigation against ex-oil company Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky in Chita, a lawyer said Thursday.
Earlier, Moscow's Basmanny Court ruled that the investigation in the new case in Chita, in East Siberia, was illegal, but prosecutors appealed to a higher court.
"A Supreme Court judge decided to launch review proceedings and instructed the Moscow City Court's presidium to consider the Prosecutor General's review representation anew," Vladimir Krasnov, representing the interests of Platon Lebedev, said.
Lebedev, former head of Menatep Group, and his business partner Khodorkovsky were found guilty of tax evasion and large-scale fraud by a Moscow court in May 2005 and sentenced to nine years in prison. Later the Moscow City Court reduced their terms to eight years.
New charges against Khodorkovsky include stealing government shares, expropriating oil, and laundering $25 billion earned from oil sales in 1998-2004. Khodorkovsky has denied the allegations.
