MOSCOW, December 28 - RIA Novosti. A court has deferred a $6,000 lawsuit filed by Platon Lebedev, former Menatep head and business partner of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, over his illegal detention, the court spokeswoman Yekaterina Ilyina told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com).

Lebedev said in his lawsuit that, according to the European Court of Human Rights and the Supreme Court of Russia, he was kept in jail for three months illegally.
The defendant in the case is the Finance Ministry.

"Lebedevs lawsuit has been suspended due to several inaccuracies. The court will decide whether it will consider the case after the errors have been resolved," Ilyina said.
The YUKOS case has been one of the most high profile in Russia in recent years. In the early 2000s, the authorities accused the executives of YUKOS, then the country's largest oil company, of embezzlement and tax evasion. In 2005, the court sentenced Khodorkovsky and his co-defendant, former Menatep head Platon Lebedev to eight years in prison. Many in the West believe the case against YUKOS was politically motivated, but Moscow flatly denies the charges.

In 2005, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were sentenced to eight years in prison for fraud and tax evasion. In late 2010, a Moscow district court sentenced them to 14 years in prison for oil theft and money laundering. They were expected to be released in 2017, taking into account the time they had already served for their convictions from their first trial in 2005. However, on May 24, the Moscow City Court reduced their sentences by one year. They may now be released in 2016.