Prosecutor says no grounds to reduce terms for Khodorkovsky, Lebedev

A prosecutor for the Russian government said on Tuesday there were no grounds for reducing the sentences of jailed former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev.

The Moscow City Court is currently hearing an appeal against the pair’s second conviction. A decision is expected later today.

Prosecutor Valery Lakhtin said however the court should recognize that the amount of oil the two men allegedly stole from their former oil firm, Yukos, was 129 million tons less than they originally were accused of siphoning off.

Already in detention since 2003, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were sentenced to a further six years in prison in December for embezzlement and money-laundering in a trial that was widely seen as politically motivated.

In a speech to the court on Tuesday, Khodorkovsky said the charges against him and the sentence which had been handed down were "absurd."

In February, an aide to Judge Viktor Danilkin, who convicted the two men at their second trial, said her boss was acting under orders from the Moscow City Court.

MOSCOW, May 24 (RIA Novosti)