You're reading: Khodorkovsky-Lebedev sentence appealed

The defense team of former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev has appealed the prison sentence handed down to them in the second trial by Moscow's Khamovniki court.

"Our complaint can be described as preliminary because we do not yet have the text of the verdict or copies of the minutes," Khodorkovsky’s lawyer Karina Moskalenko told Interfax on Friday.

The appeal was filed so urgently because the next ten days will be non-working days in Russia due to the New Year and Orthodox Christmas holidays, Moskalenko said.

"The complaint currently contains nine pages. We will expand it when we receive more documents," she said.