Jailed Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky will probably be put on trial again next year for embezzlement and money laundering, one of his lawyers said today.
Once Russia's richest man, Khodorkovsky has served four years of an eight-year prison term for fraud and tax evasion.
The former head of major oil company Yukos was arrested in October 2003 and maintains his innocence. Khodorkovsky says the charges were fabricated by his enemies in the Kremlin to punish him for his political ambitions and to carve up Yukos.
New charges were brought against him at the beginning of the year, when Russian prosecutors said he had laundered more than $23 billion.
"The trial will probably go ahead in February . . . the entire process is wrongful," Canadian lawyer Robert Amsterdam said, adding Khodorkovsky's sentence could be extended by 10 to 15 years.
"The charges are completely bogus. It's a violation of basic human rights," Mr Amsterdam said.
After Khodorkovsky's arrest, the Russian authorities imposed tens of billions of dollars in back tax claims on Yukos
before selling off its main asset. State-controlled oil major Rosneft later bought most of Yukos assets, turning it into Russia's largest oil company.