MOSCOW, July 12 - RAPSI. The Zamoskvoretsky District Court in Moscow will announce on August 1 former YUKOS co-owner Vladimir Dubov's sentence after his trial in absentia, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency on Thursday.

The prosecutor asked for an eight-year prison sentence for Dubov. He has been charged with large-scale embezzlement.
The trial was initiated in November 2011.

Dubov has been placed on the international wanted list. Law enforcement authorities' requests for his extradition have been dismissed.

According to the indictment, Dubov joined an organized crime group in 1997 whose goal was to steal 76 million pre-revaluation rubles. Using fly-by-night firms and fake documents, artificial debt was created on the Volgograd region's behalf for the YUKOS subsidiary Yuganskneftegaz.

Dubov has been accused of stealing more than 22 billion pre-revaluation rubles and temporary ownership of over 56 million pre-revaluation rubles, which were later returned to the state budget. The prosecutor has also stressed that a number of suspects are hiding abroad.

Dubov's attorney said the case was under investigation in 1998, but then stopped. However, the investigation was resumed in 2003.