Khodorkovsky in European appeal

Mr Khodorkovsky case could now go to the European court

The legal team of jailed tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky are to appeal against his conviction for fraud and tax evasion at the European Court of Human Rights.

One of his lawyers, Yuri Shmidt, said a petition will be sent to the Strasbourg court accusing the Russian justice system of violating human rights.

"We would like to appeal to international public opinion," he said.

On Thursday a Russian court rejected an appeal from the ex-Yukos boss, but cut his sentence from nine years to eight.

'Parody of justice'

After less than an hour of deliberations, the Moscow appeals court upheld all but one of the convictions against Mr Khodorkovsky and his business associate Platon Lebedev.

Russian authorities on Friday announced that the pair would soon be sent to a "penal colony" to serve their sentences.

"After the appeals hearing, which was nothing but a parody of justice ... we would like to appeal to international public opinion to defend Khodorkovsky," said Mr Shmidt.

Mr Khodorkovsky's team has six months to prepare its petition outlining how Russian authorities "violated several articles of the European Convention on Human Rights".

It has been the intent of the Kremlin from day one to sweep this case under the carpet as quickly as possible, Robert Amsterdam, Khodorkovsky legal team

Meanwhile, another of Mr Khodorkovsky's lawyers says he has been told to leave Russia or face arrest.

The BBC's Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg said Canadian-born lawyer Robert Amsterdam claimed his passport was taken and later returned with the visa revoked.

Officials are said to have annulled Mr Amsterdam's visa and given him 24 hours to leave the country.

Mr Amsterdam said he had been visited in his hotel late on Thursday and given the news by Russian state officials.

"If I'm not on a plane by 5pm today I'll be arrested," he told Reuters news agency on Friday.

He has been an outspoken critic of the Kremlin, maintaining that the case against his client has been politically motivated.

"It has been the intent of the Kremlin from day one to sweep this case under the carpet as quickly as possible," he said on Friday.

Russian authorities fiercely deny the allegations.

Appeal delays

Meanwhile, the Prosecutor General's office also wants the Justice Ministry to strip other members of Mr Khodorkovsky's defence team of their lawyer status for trying to "ruin" the appeal hearing.

Those whose status is at risk are Yelena Levina, Denis Dyatlev, Anton Drel, Yuri Schmidt and Olga Artyukhova.

"All of them made serious efforts to ruin the [appeal] process," said Natalya Vishnyakova for the general prosecutor's office.

The appeal was delayed more than once after a dispute over his legal representation. Prosecutors accused the tycoon and his team of deliberately prolonging proceedings.

Mr Khodorkovsky was expected to run for the Duma in December in order to gain parliamentary immunity - but that is not possible now that his appeal has been rejected.