Russian news agency ITAR-TASS reports that the Arkhangelsk Regional Court yesterday rejected Platon Lebedev’s appeal against the dismissal of his application for early release. Lebedev sought to have his sentence reduced in accordance with reforms in 2011 to the Russian Criminal Code, which eased Russia’s sentencing rules.

The court’s spokesperson, Ksenia Solovyeva, said that the decision of the Velsk District Court handed down on January 23, 2013, rejecting Lebedev’s application for early release, has been upheld. She stated that “the Arkhangelsk Regional Court agreed with the Velsk court’s position, considering that the Moscow City Court Presidium on December 20, 2012 has already decided to carry the sentence in accordance with the new legislation, reducing the sentence of former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Lebedev from 13 to 11 years. Since then, there haven’t been any further changes to the criminal law which could improve the position of the convicted Lebedev”.

Lebedev’s release is currently scheduled for July 2014.