Russia's supreme court ruled in favor of jailed former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky today on an appeal over the conditions of his imprisonment in the final months of his widely criticised second trial last year.
The decision is a moral victory for Khodorkovsky, sentenced to remain in prison through 2017 in a December ruling that drew condemnation from Western governments and rights groups, but it will not lead to his release.
The supreme court overturned lower court decisions to keep the former Yukos oil company chief executive and his co-defendant Platon Lebedev in pre-trial detention from late August to November 2010, granting an appeal from their lawyers.
The appeal was based on legislation enacted early last year by president Dmitry Medvedev, who has championed the need to reform Russia's justice system, enabling suspects accused of economic crimes to avoid pre-trial detention.
The ruling does not mean Khordorkovsky should have been freed last year because he was serving a prison sentence handed down in 2005 after an initial trial on fraud and tax evasion charges.
Supporters said Khodorkovsky's prosecution was part of a Kremlin campaign to punish the tycoon for perceived challenges to then-president Vladimir Putin and to tighten state control over oil revenues.
Reuters