A former senior employee of oil company Yukos was released from prison Wednesday after serving more than seven years on charges of stealing billions of dollars, a statement on the Khodorkovsky.ru web portal said.
Yukos' former deputy director of its external debt division, Vladimir Pereverzin, served seven years and two months in prison for a conviction of stealing and laundering $13 billion. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison in March 2007, but his sentence was counted from December 2004 and last month it was reduced due to a change in legislation.
Multibillion-dollar tax claims against Yukos and the imprisonment of former officials, including its former owner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, have been seen as a move by the Kremlin to punish a politically disobedient billionaire and solidify control over the strategic oil sector.
Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev were jailed in 2005 for eight years on fraud and tax evasion charges. The pair was then convicted again in 2007 on charges of embezzling 218 million tons of oil, a charge the former Yukos executives deny, calling it physically impossible.
High-ranking government officials and billionaire presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov have called for Khodorkovsky's release in recent months. President Dmitry Medvedev said he would consider pardoning the tycoon-turned-dissident, but that Khodorkovsky would first have to admit his guilt in the crimes he was convicted of, something Khodorkovsky has refused to do.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.
