One charge against Khodorkovsky reduced

The Moscow court reading the verdict in the trial of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky today said it considers him guilty of fraud, but under a section of the criminal code that offers a slightly lesser sentence than the original charge.

In the fourth day of the verdict process, Judge Irina Kolesnikova said Khodorkovsky and co-defendant Platon Lebedev had committed theft by fraud – one of seven charges against them.