MOSCOW, December 9 (RAPSI) – The defense of YUKOS CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky has no information on any new criminal proceedings opened against the jailed businessman, attorney Vadim Klugvant told RAPSI on Monday.

On Friday,  media reported that a new criminal case was initiated into the theft of $10 billion, allegedly stolen by ex-YUKOS head and several accomplices. Khodorkovsky’s status in the case remained unclear, he is neither a witness or a suspect in the case as of now.

The same day Klugvant said that Khodorkovsky was accused of money laundering already and sentenced for it by the Khamovnuchesky District Court of Moscow in December 2010.

In 2010, a Moscow district court sentenced Khodorkovsky and Lebedev to 14 years in prison for oil theft and money laundering. They were expected to be released in 2017, taking into account the time that they had already served for their convictions from their first trial in 2005, when they were sentenced to eight years in prison for fraud and tax evasion. However, on May 24, 2011, the Moscow City Court reduced their sentences by one year.

Then last year, the Moscow City Court reduced the sentence again from 13 to 11 years.

Khodorkovsky and Lebedev have asked the Supreme Court to overturn all previous court decisions as illegal and unjustified, and to grant their immediate release. 
The defense team filed for a supervisory appeal in February 2012.

On August 6, the Supreme Court held that the sentences of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev should be lowered to 10 years and 10 months, thus partially satisfying their requests on supervisory appeal.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg earlier held that the charges filed against Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were brought in accordance with the law, but that their rights had been violated in connection with the court proceedings and their placement in remote Siberian penal colonies.