Russian Court Reduces Sentence of Khodorkovsky's Partner Lebedev

) A file photograph showing former head of Russian Yukos oil company Mikhail Khodorkovsky (C) and his business partner, head of Menatep bank Platon Lebedev (R) arriving at the courtroom in Moscow, Russia, 17 May 2011. EPA/BGNES

Platon Lebedev, the jailed business partner of Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, will walk free in July 2012 after a Russian court reduced his sentence.

A court in the Arkhangelsk region reduced Lebedev's 13-year sentence by three years on Thursday.

Lebedev's lawyer Vladimir Krasnov hailed the ruling as being the "closest to a lawful, just and humane" sentence, as cited by RIA Novosti.

Lebedev has been in jail since 2003, convicted of fraud and tax evasion in two trials in 2005 and 2010. Both trials have been widely criticized abroad.

The former boss of oil giant Yukos, Khodorkovsky, and Lebedev maintain that the prosecution against them has been politically motivated, a claim denied by Russian authorities. Both men have been previously denied parole.