MOSCOW, June 8. /TASS/. Moscow’s Meshchansky District Court has in absentia sentenced ex-Yukos oil company CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky (designated as a foreign agent in Russia and placed on the list of individuals linked to extremist activities or terrorism) to ten years in prison on charges of spreading false information about the Russian Armed Forces, a TASS correspondent reported from the courtroom.

"Khodorkovsky is hereby found guilty under paragraphs (c) and (d) of Article 207.3.2 of the Russian Criminal Code (Public Dissemination of False Information about the use of the Russian Armed Forces) and is sentenced in absentia to ten years in prison to be served in a general-security penal colony, and is also barred from administering websites and posting information on the Internet for five years," a judge said.

A state prosecutor had requested that Khodorkovsky be sentenced in absentia to 14 years in a penal colony. The prison sentence will start from the moment of his extradition to Russia or detention in a foreign country.

It has been established that in September 2022 and July 2024, Khodorkovsky, who lives outside Russia, published several posts on social media containing false information about Russian forces and their actions against civilians during Moscow’s special military operation.

Khodorkovsky, previously convicted in two criminal cases, was pardoned by the Russian president on December 20, 2013, and released from a colony. On December 23, 2015, another arrest warrant was issued for him and he was declared wanted on charges of murdering Vladimir Petukhov, mayor of Nefteyugansk.