Russia sentences exiled tycoon

Boris Berezovsky given 13-year jail term in absentia on charges of embezzlement.

boris berezovsky
Boris Berezovsky has dismissed charges against him as politically motivated [AFP]

The case is one of many brought against the exiled businessman since he fell out with the Kremlin when Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000.

In 2007, he was convicted in absentia of stealing millions of dollars from national airline Aeroflot during the 1990s and was sentenced to six years in prison.

But Berezovsky has dismissed all charges against him as politically motivated.

Moscow has repeatedly sought his extradition since he was granted political asylum in Britain in 2003, but London has refused.

Russian prosecutors said they would use Friday’s ruling to make a fresh demand for Berezovsky and Dubov’s extradition.

“Of course, the general prosecutor’s office will exert all necessary force to carryout the well-merited penatlies,” Dmitry Linsky, a state prosecutor involved in the case told news agency
Interfax.

Source: News Agencies