PARIS (AP) — Russia's government, often accused of acting with impunity against its critics, is facing what may be its biggest legal challenge yet.
The European Court of Human Rights rules Tuesday on a claim by now-defunct oil giant Yukos for $98 billion in damages from the Russian government.
The court has never dealt with such a costly demand since it was created half a century ago.
Yukos lawyers argue that Russia’s leadership under Vladimir Putin deliberately sought to destroy Yukos, whose primary subsidiary produced as much oil annually as all of Libya. Its now-imprisoned CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky was the country’s richest man and considering a political challenge to Putin’s reign.
The ruling by the court’s nine-judge panel will be binding.
