The 14-year jail term imposed on former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner, Platon Lebedev, shows a politically motivated trial and deep-seated problems with Russia's justice system, Human Rights Watch (HRW) organization said on its website on Friday.
The Khamovniki District Court in Moscow sentenced on Thursday Khodorkovsky and his business partner to a total of 14 years in prison in the second trial involving Yukos assets. With time already served counting towards this total, both men could remain behind bars until 2017.
"The sentence is a blow to the rule of law in Russia. Everything about the charges and the trial indicates that the case against him is political," Rachel Denber, acting head of HRW in Europe and Central Asia, said.
In October, Human Rights Watch together with other international human rights organizations sent a joint letter to President Dmitry Medvedev, urging him to call on prosecutors to drop the charges against both men and to release them from prison.
"The timing and circumstances of the prosecutors' decision to pursue a second prosecution of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev added credence to claims that the proceedings were motivated by political considerations," the organizations said in their letter.
The international community was quick to react to the outrageously injustice verdict.
Germany was one of the first EU countries to voice its concerns over the Khodorkovsky verdict.
German government spokesman Christoph Steegmans said the trial was "a step backwards from Russia's modernization declared by President [Dmitry] Medvedev."
The U.S. State Department also condemned the verdict, calling the whole trial "an abusive use of the legal system for improper ends."
A White House source suggested the result of the trial could complicate Russia's chance of joining the World Trade Organization, which it has been seeking membership of for the last 17 years.
MOSCOW, December 31 (RIA Novosti)
