Mikhail Khodorkovsky (right) and Platon Lebedev were convicted together A Moscow court is hearing former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s appeal against his second fraud conviction.
Khodorkovsky was convicted in December of embezzling nearly $30bn (£19bn, 21bn euros) worth of his own company’s oil and laundering the proceeds.
Speaking in court, he described the conviction, which extended his existing jail term by six years, as “absurd”.
If it is quashed, he is due for release this year, upon the expiry of his first prison sentence from 2005.
Otherwise, he will not be eligible for release until 2017.
The prosecution and imprisonment of Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man, have been widely criticised outside Russia.
His fate has been seen by some as punishment for seeking to support a liberal opposition in Russian politics, and thereby challenging Vladimir Putin, the former president and current prime minister.
Questions over his conviction gathered new force in February, when the sentencing judge was accused of having changed his verdict, under external pressure.
Judge Viktor Danilkin denied the accusation, levelled by his court aide, Natalya Vasilyeva.
In a speech to the court on Tuesday, Khodorkovsky said “it was clear” the accusations against him and the sentence which had been handed down were “absurd”.
He called on the three appeal court judges to throw out the case.
“Either overturn the sentence and put at end to this disgrace or you will join those criminals who spit on the law,” Khodorkovsky said.
He said he was certain his fate was being decided outside the court and added that he would not seek clemency.
Appealing along with him is his business partner, Platon Lebedev.
Arrested in 2003, the two men were eventually sentenced to nine years’ prison in 2005 for fraud and tax evasion, a term later reduced by one year.
The new, 14-year prison sentence handed down in December is running concurrently with the first term.
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