A Moscow Court Sentences Khodorkovsky to 10 Years in Absentia

A court in Moscow sentenced Mikhail Khodorkovsky to 10 years in prison in absentia, convicting him on two counts of spreading false information about the Russian armed forces, RBC reported. Prosecutors had sought 14 years for the former head of the Yukos oil company, once Russia's richest man before his arrest and imprisonment in the 2000s.

Khodorkovsky, who lives abroad and has become one of the most prominent figures in the exiled Russian opposition, is among a growing number of critics tried and convicted while outside the country. The "false information" statute under which he was sentenced has been used widely against people who challenge the official account of the war in Ukraine.

The case is a reminder of how the Russian state continues to use the courts against opponents beyond its borders, reinforcing the message that dissent carries legal consequences regardless of where a critic lives. For the business class that once surrounded Khodorkovsky, his path remains a warning of the cost of political confrontation with the Kremlin.