Russia Cuts Khodorkovsky Jail Time by Two Years

A Russian court on Thursday reduced the sentence of jailed Kremlin critic and former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky to 11 from from 13 years, setting his release for 2014, his press service said.

The Moscow City Court decided to cut the prison term served by the Yukos oil company founder and his co-defendant Platon Lebedev by two years due to changes in the criminal legislation that affect the charges against them.

"This way Mikhail Khodorkovsky is to be freed in October 2014, and Platon Lebedev in July 2014," said a statement on Khodorkovsky's media site.

His lawyers however denounced the ruling, saying that under the new legislation he should already have been released.

The reduction applies to the charge of money laundering, court spokeswoman Anna Usacheva was quoted by news agencies as saying.

Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were convicted of embezzlement and money laundering in their second trial in late 2010.

They had already been serving time for an earlier conviction for fraud and tax evasion.

Khodorkovsky's lawyers had argued that under new legislation, the two defendants had already served their sentences in full and should be immediately released.

They denounced Thursday's decision as a continuation of political reprisals.

But President Vladimir Putin told reporters he had nothing to do with the judge's decision.

"Everyone tries to present this as a political case," Putin said. "But was Mikhail Borisovich really involved in politics, was he a parliament member? There was no such thing. It is a completely economic case, let's not politicize it," said Putin, using Khodorkovsky's formal patronymic.

"If everything goes as normal, Mikhail Borisovich will go free, and I wish him health," Putin said.

Khodorkovsky's lawyers called Putin's reaction "demagoguery."

Denouncing the latest court ruling, one of the lawyers, Vadim Klyuvgant, told AFP: "What can be our reaction to continuing lawlessness and reprisals? Of course, it is negative.

"We will continue to fight, and of course we will appeal."

Last month, a district court ruled that there should be a more significant reduction in Lebedev's sentence to allow for his release in July 2013, but that decision was overruled by a regional judge.

Khodorkovsky was Russia's richest man and a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin when he was first arrested in 2003. Since then his company Yukos has been dissolved.

Supporters say his prosecution was punishment for daring to finance political opposition in Russia.

In his second trial, he was controversially found guilty of embezzling almost all of his company's oil profits over a set period.

In 2011 the European Court of Human Rights censured Russia over Khodorkovsky's imprisonment, but refused to back claims that his arrest had been politically motivated.