Russia's non-parliamentary parties have slammed the guilty verdict in the second trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky as an "abuse of the judicial system."
Moscow court judge Viktor Danilkin convicted Russian ex-oil tycoon Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev for embezzling 218 million tons of oil from Khodorkovsky's former oil firm Yukos and laundering over 3 billion rubles ($97.5 million) in revenues.
The two men, who have already spent seven years in jail for fraud and tax evasion from their 2005 trial, will stay in prison until 2017. The defendants said their verdict proved that "judicial protection from officials in Russia is impossible."
Leonid Gozman, co-chairman of Right Cause, widely seen as a pro-Kremlin party, said the court's decision was "absolutely groundless and senseless cruelty."
"I feel shame for my country, our justice and also for how the verdict was announced," Gozman said, adding that the verdict was announced just a day before the New Year holiday when much public attention was focused elsewhere.
Sergei Mitrokhin, leader of Russia's democratic Yabloko party, called the verdict an "abuse of the judicial system."
"This verdict is illegal and has nothing in common with justice. This is a form of political repressions and a threat to big business," Mitrokhin said.
The verdict was "politically motivated" and must be overturned, he said.
The trial is seen by some analysts as a political vendetta by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, whom Khodorkovsky challenged by funding the liberal opposition in the early 2000s.
Germany was one of the first EU countries to voice its concerns over the Khodorkovsky verdict on Thursday.
"The trial and the verdict pose serious questions over whether Russia is governed by the rule of law and is a step backwards from Russia's modernization declared by President [Dmitry] Medvedev," German government spokesman Christoph Steegmans said.
Earlier this week, the United States said it was "deeply concerned" after the guilty verdict was delivered on Monday.
MOSCOW, December 30 (RIA Novosti)
