Former Yukos executive jailed for 15 years

Officials say a Moscow court has sentenced a former manager of the Yukos oil company to 15 years in prison on embezzlement charges.

Anna Usachyova, a spokeswoman for Moscow courts said the Tagansky District Court convicted Yukos’ former chief office manager Alexei Kurtsin today of embezzling 74 million rubles (€1.8m) by passing the money off as charity contributions.

Kurtsin, who has been in jail since his arrest in November 2004, was sentenced to 14 years in prison on similar charges in December 2005. Usachyova said the sentence will be cover the previous one.

Yukos’ founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky – once Russia’s richest man – is serving an eight-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion at a Siberian prison colony.