Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has lost an appeal against his eight-year jail term for fraud and tax evasion.

THE Moscow court reading the verdict in the politically charged trial of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky adjourned yesterday without pronouncing a final decision, postponing the process into a third day.

The judge reading out the lengthy verdict in oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s fraud and tax evasion trial today said the court considers his guilt to be proven.

A Moscow court ruled today that Russia’s richest man, oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, will be tried with another key shareholder in beleaguered oil company Yukos and set a hearing date for next week.

Russia’s richest man, oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky, appeared in a Moscow court today for the first substantive hearing in a case that threatens to bring down the business empire he built.