Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky's lawyers on Friday filed an appeal against the contentious 13-and-a-half-year prison sentence that was imposed on him this week for stealing oil and laundering the proceeds, Interfax news agency reported.
“The court ruling is not yet available in its entirety, but we didn't want to miss the (appeals) deadline because of the upcoming holidays,” defence lawyer Karina Moskalenko told Interfax.
The first 10 days of January are national holidays in Russia.
Moskalenko said the appeal currently features nine pages.
“We will expand the appeal of the verdict as soon as we receive all the documents,” she noted.
A Moscow judge on Thursday ordered that Khodorkovsky and his former business partner, Platon Lebedev, remain behind bars until 2017 for stealing 218 million tons of oil from their now defunct Yukos oil company and laundering the associated funds.
The trial of the arch-foe of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has drawn major international criticism, with allegations that it was politically motivated and an attempt to sideline Khodorkovsky prior to the 2012 presidential elections.
However, Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, strongly refuted that criticism.
“Russia's courts are dependent neither on foreign nor on Russian agencies,” he said. “If this verdict strongly alarms anybody, I would like to remind them that the accused has the right to appeal,” he told the Interfax news agency.
The European Union said Thursday that it plans to make the prison sentence a diplomatic issue with Russia.
“The sentence is a blow to the rule of law in Russia,” Rachel Denber, the acting Europe and Central Asia director for Human Rights Watch, added. “Everything about the charges and the trial indicates that the case against him is political.”
Khodorkovsky's son Pavel, who lives in the US, said he had expected the verdict, but still found it hard to take. “I asked his lawyer to tell him his family are waiting for him.”-
Sapa-dpa