MOSCOW, July 26 (UPI) -- The editor of an opposition Russian newspaper has offered a job to Platon Lebedev, the jailed ex-business partner of Yukos chief executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Khodorkovsky and Lebedev have been serving prison sentences for fraud and tax evasion after their 2005 trial, RIA Novosti reported Tuesday.
"I know that you pay a special attention to where a person would work after his early release," Dmitry Muratov, editor in chief of Novaya Gazeta, told a parole hearing for Lebedev. "That's why I would like to offer Platon Leonidovich [Lebedev] a job as an economic observer in our newspaper."
Khodorkovsky and Lebedev have maintained their innocence, claiming the Yukos case was revenge by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for Khodorkovsky's sponsorship of opposition groups in Russia in the early 2000s. The oil company went bankrupt in 2006 after being unable to pay $27 billion in taxes.
Lebedev filed an appeal last week against his sentence, which his lawyer called "unlawful and groundless."
A court refused to consider a previous petition by Khodorkovsky and Lebedev for early release, filed in late May, citing a lack of necessary documents.
