Russian oil tycoon Khodorkovsky awaits sentence after theft conviction

The judge in the case against jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky finished his third day of reading the verdict without announcing the prison sentence today.

He made clear on Monday that Khodorkovsky had been found guilty and since then has been reading the verdict, a lengthy summation of the trial.

The sentence is to be announced last, which Khodorkovsky’s lawyers expect to be by the end of the week.

Khodorkovsky is nearing the end of an eight-year sentence after being convicted of tax fraud in a case seen as punishment for challenging Kremlin power.

The conviction on charges of stealing nearly €23bn of the oil that his Yukos company produced from 1998 to 2003 and laundering the proceeds could keep him behind bars for several more years.