MOSCOW, December 26. /ITAR-TASS/. A prison term administered to Platon Lebedev under a second verdict passed on the Yukos case should be shortened, Supreme Court Chairman Vyacheslav Lebedev said in his resolution in which he ordered to open a supervisory procedure into complaints filed against the previous resolutions passed by the Khamovnichesky district court.

"Having studied the complaints lodged against the verdict I arrived at the conclusion that there are good reasons to repeal the previous resolution passed by a judge of the Supreme Court and open a supervisory procedure," Vyacheslav Lebedev said in the resolution. "The Moscow city court in its resolution of May 16, 2005 had left unnoticed the Penal Code amended to include Article 159 Part 4, which envisages criminal punishment for fraud as a result of intentional violation of liabilities in the sphere of entrepreneurship. The Moscow city court neither clarified nor assessed the circumstances in the Yukos case connected with fraud in the sphere of entrepreneurial activity, Lebedev said in the resolution.

"There are enough reasons to have the criminal case against Platon Lebedev revised by the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, given that this might entail milder punishment," the resolution said.

Ex-Menatep Chief Platon Lebedev and Ex-Yukos chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky were prosecuted on two criminal cases. First, both were convicted in May 2005 by the Moscow Meschansky district court and sentenced to a nine-year prison term for embezzlement and tax evasion.

In the framework of a second criminal case the Khamovnichesky district court found both defenders guilty of embezzlement and money laundering. Both were sentenced to 14 years in an ordinary prison with the account of the prison term both had already served. Later, the Presidium of the Moscow city court shortened the overall prison term to Lebedev and Khodorkovsky to eleven years, which was followed by another two months" discount" ordered by the Supreme Court.

Given the shortened prison terms for both, Platon Lebedev was to have been released in May, 2014 and Mikhail Khodorkovsky — in August, 2014.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, pardoned by the Russian president, was released from prison on December 20, 2013.