ST. PETERSBURG, November 14 - RAPSI. The application of the defense of Platon Lebedev, the jailed business partner of Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, to examine the actions of the Prosecutor General's Office has been submitted to the Constitutional Court, a court representative told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
Attorney Vladimir Krasnov's application to the Constitutional Court is posted on Platon Lebedev's and his business partner Mikhail Khodorkovsky's press center's website and reads that the Prosecutor General's Office ignored a number of the court's rulings.
In addition, Krasnov does not agree with arguments of the prosecutor's office made during the Arkhangelsk Regional Velsk District Court's consideration of Lebedev's motion for parole.
The attorney believes that the prosecutor's office's position on reducing Lebedev's imprisonment term after amendments were made to the Criminal Code mitigating financial criminal liability contradicts the Constitutional Court's rulings.
The Arkhangelsk Region Velsk District Court ruled on November 1 to reduce Lebedev's prison term from 13 to 10 years, according to which he is due for release in July 2013.
The YUKOS case has been one of the most high profile in Russia over recent years. In the early 2000s, the authorities accused YUKOS executives Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev of tax evasion. YUKOS, then the country's largest oil company, went bankrupt and its assets were taken over by Rosneft. Many in the West believe the case was politically driven. Moscow denies these 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, considering the time they had already served for their previous convictions from their first trial. However, the Moscow City Court reduced their sentences by one year in May 2011.