Russian oil tycoon Khodorkovsky found guilty in trial

Former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been found guilty of embezzlement, BBC News reported.

The judge said Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev were guilty of stealing from their firm Yukos and laundering the proceeds.

Khodorkovsky is already serving an eight-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion from his 2005 trial. His supporters maintain the case against him is politically motivated.

Khodorkovsky, 47, was due to be released next year, but the new convictions could see him jailed until 2017.

The two defendants were led into court in handcuffs by armed guards. In the sealed glass dock Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, waved at his parents, the small courtroom packed with journalists and cameras.

Several hundred demonstrators could be heard outside the courtroom, chanting "Freedom!" and "Put Putin [the Russian prime minister] in jail!"

Only a handful of reporters were present as the judge read out the first few pages of the verdict, and they were later asked to leave.

"The court has established that Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev committed embezzlement acting in collusion with a group of people and using their professional positions," the judge said.

Delivering the full verdict and sentence is expected to take several days. Khodorkovsky's lawyers have already said they will appeal.

In the latest trial, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are accused of stealing hundreds of millions of tonnes of oil from the now defunct Yukos oil company,and laundering the proceeds, in the years 1998-2003.

Khodorkovsky lawyers say Vladimir Putin is applying pressure to courts. He has denounced the charges as rubbish.

Khodorkovsky has said that a state that destroys its best companies and trusts only the bureaucracy and the special services is a sick state.

Many critics believe the government wants the former tycoon kept behind bars for as long as possible because he financed the opposition when Vladimir Putin was president.

Mr Putin - now Russia's prime minister - referred to Khodorkovsky in a televised question-and-answer session last week, when he said he believed "a thief belongs in prison".