The Prosecutor of the Velsk district in the Arkhangelsk region today appealed against last week’s ruling to reduce the sentence of Platon Lebedev, describing it as an “excessive punishment reduction.” On November 1, the Velsk Court ruled that Lebedev, the business partner of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, should be released in July 2013, reducing his 13 year sentence by three years due to changes in Russian law regarding sentencing.

This is not the first time the prosecution has appealed against a reduction to Lebedev’s sentence and argued it to be “excessively lenient.” In August a court ruled that he should be released in March 2013, but following an appeal from prosecution, the reduction was overturned.

The original announcement of the Prosecution, 06.11.2012