On The Road In The Kingdom Of Fear

Mr Khodorkovsky

Mr Khodorkovsky's supporters have claimed that the trial was politically motivated punishment from the Kremlin in response to his financing of pro-Western opposition political parties.

"The sentence had to be long enough so Khodorkovsky was in jail in 2008, at the next presidential elections," political analyst Marsha Lipman at the Carnegie Moscow Centre added.

Outside the court, US Democrat congressman Tom Lantos said: "It seems that this political trial before a kangaroo court has come to a shameful conclusion.

US President George W Bush said that he had expressed concerns to Moscow that Mr Khodorkovsky was judged guilty before even standing trial.

posted by Alexander Try @ 11:06 am