Publications / Briefing on Second Trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev (2007-2011)
Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky was arrested in October 2003 and sentenced in 2005 to an 8-year prison term for alleged fraud and tax evasion. In February 2007, when the former Yukos Oil Company chief had become eligible for release on parole, new charges of embezzlement and money laundering were brought against him. The second trial based on that indictment began in March 2009. Khodorkovsky and his co-accused business partner Platon L. Lebedev pleaded not guilty, while emphasizing that the charges against them were incomprehensible and unexplained. After 20 months of grave procedural violations throughout the trial, on December 27, 2010, both Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were found guilty by Moscow’s Khamovnichesky Court. On May 24, 2011, the Moscow City Court rejected the appeal lodged by Khodorkovsky and Lebedev against the Khamovnichesky Court verdict. With just months remaining before completion of their current prison terms, their overall sentences were extended to a total of 13 years, pushing their scheduled release from 2011 to 2016.