Berezovsky convicted in Moscow trial

Exiled Russian plutocrat Boris Berezovsky was today convicted by a Moscow court of embezzling millions of dollars from national airline Aeroflot and sentenced to six years in prison.

Mr Berezovsky, a former Kremlin insider who fled to Britain and has become one of President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal foes, said the charges were part of a politically motivated campaign against him.

“This was not a trial but pure farce,” he said.

A district court judge in Moscow said Mr Berezovsky was found guilty of embezzling nearly $9m US (€6.1m) during the 1990s.

Britain has rejected previous Russian requests for his extradition, but Russia, armed with the conviction, is likely to make a fresh request.

Mr Berezovsky said he would consider the six years or so that he has spent in Britain, unable to return to his homeland because he faces prosecution in 11 criminal cases, as punishment.

Mr Berezovsky was one of the richest and most prominent of the Russian tycoons who made fortunes in the political and economic upheaval following the Soviet collapse. He became an influential Kremlin insider under President Boris Yeltsin, but fell out of favour with Mr Putin. He fled to Britain in 2000 and was granted refugee status in 2003.

Mr Berezovsky’s confrontation with the Kremlin deepened over the radiation poisoning death in London last year of Alexander Litvinenko, an ally and fellow Putin critic who blamed the Russian president for his poisoning.

Russian officials have suggested that Mr Berezovsky, seeking to discredit Mr Putin and Russia, was behind Mr Litvinenko’s killing and the October 2006 murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Russia has refused to extradite the suspect Britain has named in Mr Litvinenko’s killing, Andrei Lugovoi.

A court-appointed attorney defended Mr Berezovsky, who told his lawyers to steer clear of the trial.

The court on Thursday rejected a separate charge that Mr Berezovsky laundered some of the money he was convicted of stealing from Aeroflot, Russian news agencies reported.