Russian oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky was sentenced to nine years in jail today after being found guilty in a fraud and tax evasion trial widely seen as orchestrated by the Kremlin to crush a political threat.
The central Moscow court found the billionaire guilty of six of seven charges in a verdict that took judges 12 days to read out and which climaxed an 11-month trial. His Yukos business associate, Platon Lebedev, was handed the same sentence.
'Khodorkovsky and Lebedev entered into an organised group with the aim of illegally appropriating other people's property and then selling the assets for their own gain,' said chief judge Irina Kolesnikova. 'The court finds the defence arguments to be groundless,' she added.
The billionaire, once Russia's richest man and founder of the Yukos oil company, and Lebedev had faced seven charges including fraud, theft and tax evasion.
The company has since been crushed under the weight of back tax claims and its core assets passed into state hands.
The judges had made it clear from the start of their summing up 12 days ago that the accused would be found guilty. The prison sentence was one year less than the 10-year maximum sought by the prosecution.
