Court Reverses Jail-Term Reduction For Khodorkovsky Associate

Platon Lebedev gestures inside the defendants' box during a 2011 court hearing.

An Arkhangelsk regional court in Russia's northwest has overturned a previous court's ruling on reducing the prison term for Platon Lebedev, the former associate of jailed former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

The court sent Lebedev's case to additional hearing by other judges.

Last month, the court in the town of Velsk reduced Lebedev’s prison term from 13 years to nine years and eight months.

Lebedev and his business partner Khodorkovsky, the former head of Yukos Oil Company and once one of the richest people in Russia, were arrested in 2003 on charges of fraud and sentenced to nine years in jail.

In 2010, they were sentenced to additional time in jail on charges of embezzlement and money laundering.

Both pleaded not guilty.

Based on reporting by Interfax and ITAR-TASS