The Moscow City Court sentenced in absentia the former owner of the YUKOS concern, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, to 10 years imprisonmentfinding him guilty of spreading “false information” about the Russian army.
As reported by RBK, the verdict was handed down by judge Oksana Goryunova. According to the court's decision, Khodorkovsky is to serve his sentence in an ordinary security colony. He was also banned from administering websites for five years.
The reason for initiating a criminal case were posts that Khodorkovsky posted on the website X (formerly Twitter) and on YouTube in September 2022 and July 2024.
Khodorkovsky as a “terrorist”
The organization itself was deemed “undesirable” and “terrorist.” In November, Khodorkovsky's name was added to Rosfinmonitoring's list of “terrorists and extremists”. The same fate befell the 22 co-founders of the committee.
Khodorkovsky has been living abroad for over 12 years. He left Russia at the end of 2013, when President Vladimir Putin pardoned him after nearly 10 years in prison for two convictions on fraud, tax evasion, oil theft and money laundering. Khodorkovsky pleaded not guilty.
