Rights court upholds censure of Russia over Khodorkovsky

The European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday confirmed its decision to censure Russia over its treatment of jailed tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and rejected an appeal application.

In may the Strasbourg-based rights court ordered Russia to pay about 24,500 euros in costs and damages to the tycoon, once Russia’s richest man but now serving sentences for tax evasion and fraud.

However, the court rejected Khodorkovsky’s central argument that his case is politically motivated due to his opposition to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Russia appealed the original decision but the court’s ruling is now definitive.

The case was thus included Wednesday on the court’s “Requests for referral rejected” list.