MOSCOW, November 14 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Supreme Court has refused to consider appeals to dismiss charges against jailed former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev, according to a statement posted on the pair's official website.
Khodorkovsky, the former head of the now-defunct Yukos oil company, and Lebedev had asked the court to review the results of their trial in 2010, when they were found guilty of embezzlement.
Their lawyers have called the original verdict illegal and unjustified.
The Supreme Court had already reviewed and upheld the verdict in August, although it reduced both men's sentences by two months.
Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were first convicted in 2005 for tax evasion, but subsequently had their sentences extended after also being found guilty of fraud and embezzlement in a case that many observers saw as politically motivated.
Khodorkovsky drew unwelcome attention from the authorities in the 2000s, early on in the presidency of Vladimir Putin, by actively supporting and funding opposition parties.
He and his business partner are scheduled for release in August 2014 and May 2014 respectively.
