The Russian Supreme Court has rejected an appeal filed by the Russian Human Rights Commissioner, Vladimir Lukin, in which the Commissioner challenged the tax demands imposed on Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev by their first sentence.

In the appeal against the judgement handed down by the Meshchansky Court in Moscow, the Commissioner argued that the reimbursement order against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev did not have any basis since “the Federal Tax service’s requirements for tax arrears recovery from Yukos in the year 2000 had already been met at the time of sentencing.”

Lebedev’s lawyer, Vladimir Krasnov, said that the defence team were going to “remain in contact with the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner, and, upon having received the official documents from the Supreme Court (sent via Russian Mail), they will determine the next steps.”