Court rules in favor of former Yukos execs

MOSCOW, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Russia's Supreme Court has ruled the pre-trial jailing of the former Yukos chief and his business partner from May to August last year was illegal.

The court said holding Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev for three months at a Moscow detention center during their second trial violated the criminal code, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported Tuesday.

The code was amended last April to abolish pre-trial detention for economic crimes.

Khodorkovsky and Lebedev each received 14-year prison sentences for their conviction on charges of oil embezzlement and money laundering. They had already served seven years for tax evasion and money laundering.

For their second trial, the two were moved to a pre-trial detention center in Moscow and stayed there until their second court case finished in November.