MOSCOW, March 31 (RAPSI) - Ex-Yukos security chief Alexey Pichugin serving a life term in prison has filed a new petition for pardon addressed to the President, his lawyer Ksenia Kostromina has told RAPSI.

Pichugin has already spent 16 years and 9 months behind bars, according to the attorney.

In July 2017, Pichugin was denied pardon. That was his second petition for pardon. The first petition was dismissed in the summer of 2016.

The Supreme Court of Russia in November 2017 upheld the sentence of Pichugin and refused to resume proceedings in the case. The court’s Presidium reviewed the case following the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued on June 6, 2017. The Strasbourg-based court found violation of presumption of innocence and assessment of evidence by Russian courts in the second case against him and awarded over €15,000 in compensation including costs and expenses to Pichugin.

Two criminal cases have been opened against ex-Yukos security chief in Russia on charges of organizing murders and attempted assassinations. In 2005, he received 20 years in prison in the first case. In 2007, he was sentenced to life in prison in the second case.