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Russia seeks 6 extra years in jail for tycoon

22 October 2010 19:23 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Russian prosecutors Friday demanded that jailed former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky be imprisoned for an additional six years if he is convicted in his politically charged second trial, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
Prosecutors asked for a 14-year prison sentence but said it should include the eight-year term that Khodorkovsky is currently serving, which is due to end in October 2011.
The requested sentence would keep the former Yukos oil company chief, once Russia’s richest man, in prison into 2017.
"For a person who did not commit any crime this is still too much," said Maxim Dbar, a spokesman for Khodorkovsky’s legal team.
Prosecutors made the request as they wrapped up closing arguments in a trial that is a test of President Dmitry Medvedev’s vows to improve Russia’s justice system.
Khodorkovsky has one year left to serve in the eight-year sentence imposed after a high-profile fraud and tax evasion trial that tarnished Russia’s image during Putin’s 2000-2008 presidency.
In the second trial, which has been grinding on in a drab Moscow courtroom for more than a year and a half, Khodorkovsky stands accused of stealing $27 billion worth of oil from Yukos production subsidiaries in 1998-2003.
Supporters have cast both trials as products of a Kremlin-driven campaign of revenge for perceived political, economic and personal challenges to Putin, who has sought to ensure Russia’s billionaire tycoons toe the line.
Khodorkovsky’s lawyers say a verdict could come before the end of the year.