A Russian court sentenced self-exiled Russian businessman and Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky in absentia on Thursday to six years in prison for embezzling millions of dollars from Aeroflot airline.
Berezovsky, a political refugee living in London, had rejected the charges and refused to cooperate with the court, saying the accusations against him were politically motivated. "The court has established that Berezovsky embezzled Aeroflot funds by way of fraud, being part of an organised criminal group," Judge Igor Sheremetyev said in his ruling in the Savyolovsky district court in Moscow.
The judge said the criminal group included top managers at Aeroflot, Russia's national airline which Berezovsky controlled in the 1990s. Investigators said Berezovsky stole about 215 million roubles ($8.83 million) of Aeroflot funds, of which he had laundered more than 16 million roubles ($656,800).
Berezovsky was ordered to repay the money. But a court-appointed lawyer said he would appeal the decision, saying there was no proof that his client had "used even one rouble" of the airline's funds.
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