MOSCOW, October 28 (RIA Novosti) - Prosecutors demanded Alexei Kurtsin, an executive of Yukos-Moskva, the embattled oil major's subsidiary, be sentenced to 13 years in prison on embezzlement and money laundering charges during a court session Friday.
Prosecutors' demands for eight other defendants ranged from 18 months to 13 years of imprisonment. If convicted, the suspects, including Kurtsin, face 1 million rubles (more than $35,000) in fines each.
Prosecutors say their guilt had been proven during the trial, insisting they had acted as an organized and extremely close-knit group and charging them with involvement in 13 separate criminal incidents.
Defense lawyers are expected to make their closing arguments after a short break Friday, after which the judges will read out a verdict.
Once Russia's richest oil company, Yukos lost its main production unit last year and faces huge back tax bills, which it contends is a politically motivated assault on the company founded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who is now serving an eight-year prison term.
While investigating money laundering charges, prosecutors conducted a series of raids on a Yukos subsidiary, two banks and a law firm in and around Moscow, earlier in October. A subsidiary in the Netherlands was also searched, and Igor Babenko, a Yukos banker, sought and was granted political asylum in Lithuania.
