WASHINGTON, Dec 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department on Thursday sharply criticized the sentencing of former Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky to prison until 2017, suggesting that this was an abuse of the Russian legal system.
“We remain concerned by the allegations of serious due process violations, and what appears to be an abusive use of the legal system for improper ends, particularly now that Khodorkovsky and Lebedev have been sentenced to the maximum penalty,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, referring to Khodorkovsky’s co-defendant Platon Lebedev.
Editing by Sandra Maler
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