Moscow court to study legality of Khodorkovsky custody extension
11:31 03/02/2011 MOSCOW, February 3 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow City Court will open review proceedings on February 4 to examine the legality of a recent extension of custody given to former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his former business partner Platon Lebedev, Khodorkovsky's lawyer said on Thursday.
In August 2010, the two men were close to the end of their eight-year sentences for fraud and tax evasion given to them at their 2005 trial, but on August 16, the Moscow Khamovniki district court ordered a three-month extension of Lebedev and Khodorkovsky's custody.
Their lawyers contested the move and in December 2010 the Supreme Court ordered review proceedings to examine the legality of that extension.
"We didn't see the point in speaking about the Supreme Court's December decision, which was taken when Khodorkovsky and Lebedev had already served these three months in a pretrial detention facility," lawyer Vadim Klyugvant said.
In December 2010 Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were sentenced to 14 years in jail after being found guilty of stealing oil from Yukos and laundering the proceeds.
Russian prosecutors have not ruled out initiation of a third criminal case against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev.
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