Russia to pay Khodorkovsky €10,000 over European court ruling

Russia will pay former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky 10,000 euros (13,800 U.S. dollars) in compensation for violation of his certain rights during criminal prosecution, the Justice Ministry said Friday. "In order to implement the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Khodorkovsky was asked to submit the details of his bank account where that compensation will be deposited," said the ministry's press service. In July, the Strasbourg-based court ordered that Russia pay Khodorkovsky 10,000 euros for his damages. But the ECHR ruled that the criminal proceedings against Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev were justified by Russian law and their convictions were not motivated by any political activities. Khodorkovsky, once a co-owner of the Yukos oil company and one of the seven richest men in Russia, was arrested in 2003 onboard a plane while on a business trip. In May 2005, a Moscow district court sentenced him to nine years in prison for fraud and tax evasion. In 2012, the Russian Supreme Court revised his prison term to expire in August 2014. Russian President Vladimir Putin pardoned him on Dec. 20, and the latter left Russia for Germany on the same day. Khodorkovsky said he would not return to Russia for fear that he could be trapped again due to the 2005 case. Earlier this week, the Russian Supreme Court said it would resume hearings on the Yukos case on Jan. 23 due to new circumstances that appeared after the ECHR ruling.