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Siberian court extends probe for jailed Lebedev until August 2

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CHITA, April 25 (RIA Novosti) - An East Siberian court granted on Friday a request from top prosecutors to extend a new probe against jailed Yukos co-founder Platon Lebedev until August 2, Lebedev's lawyer said.

The new charges against the bankrupt oil company's CEO, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and his business partner Lebedev, both sentenced to eight-year jail terms in 2005, include stealing government shares, illegal oil trading, and laundering $25 billion earned from oil sales in 1998-2004.

Igor Sapozhkov pledged to file a cassation appeal against the court ruling.

Both Khodorkovsky and Lebedev have denied all charges. Khodorkovsky said his imprisonment was a direct result of his support for Russia's tiny pro-Western opposition.

Yukos, once Russia's largest independent oil producer, collapsed after claims of tax evasion in 2004 which led to the company being broken up and sold off to meet creditor claims. The bulk of its assets were bought through liquidation auctions by government-controlled oil company Rosneft. The company was officially dissolved in 2007.

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