The lawyers of ex-oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev, recently sentenced by a Moscow court to 14 years for embezzlement and money laundering, have appealed the sentence.
The lawyer for the ex-head of Yukos, Karina Moskalenko, sent an appeal to the Khamovniki District Court on its ruling to sentence the two businessmen, who have already served eight years of a previous sentence, and were sentenced to 14 years on Thursday for a second round of charges brought against them. The businessmen may be released from prison in 2017, taking into account their time already served.
"We request that a higher court annul the sentence and stop the progress of criminal charges [brought against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev] due to a lack of evidence of a crime committed," Moskalenko said.
MOSCOW, December 31 (RIA Novosti)
