Russian Rights Council Objects To Khodorkovsky Verdict

Jailed former Russian oil tycoon Yukos Mikhail

A Russian human rights council has recommended that prosecutors take action to get former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky's conviction overturned.

Khodorkovsky has been imprisoned since his arrest in 2003 on charges widely seen as punishment for challenging Vladimir Putin, who was president at the time.

A Moscow court last December found him guilty of embezzlement in a second case, and ruled to keep Khodorkovsky behind bars until 2016.

An advisory Kremlin rights panel said in a 300-page report commissioned by President Dmitry Medvedev in February that the second conviction comprised "fundamental violations" of Russian criminal law.

The council urged the prosecutor-general to petition to get the verdict annulled and for investigators to review the case. The council's decisions are not binding.

compiled from agency reports