Khodorkovsky faces more jail time in oil-theft verdict

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the imprisoned former head of Yukos Oil Co, faces more jail under a new conviction for embezzling $29 billion of crude oil, a verdict that governments in the US and Europe said further weakened the rule of law in Russia.

Khodorkovsky and his former business partner, Platon Lebedev, already serving eight-year sentences for fraud and tax evasion under a 2005 conviction, may be sentenced this week or after January 10 when Russia’s New Year holidays end, their lawyers said. The men face six more years in prison, the defense team said.

“The trial was a charade of justice, the charges were absolutely false, but I fear the sentencing will be very real,” Vadim Klyuvgant, the lead defense lawyer, said yesterday in a statement. The defense team plans to appeal the decision, he told reporters outside the courtroom. “There isn’t the slightest doubt that there was pressure on the court.”

Khodorkovsky, 47, was due for release in October 2011. Once Russia’s richest man, he has called the charges retribution for political opposition to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who was president at the time of his 2003 arrest. During Putin’s presidency, Yukos, once Russia’s largest company by market value, was declared bankrupt with about $30 billion of tax claims and sold off in pieces. Putin has denied any involvement.

US, German and UK officials said the trial undermines confidence in Russia’s commitment to a fair legal climate for business.

The case “raises serious questions about selective prosecution — and about the rule of law being overshadowed by political consideration,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement yesterday. The European Union said it was following the proceedings “very closely”.