Ex-Khodorkovsky Court Official Criticizes Judge

Russian Judge Viktor Danilkin allegedly 'took orders' from other people.

A former official at the Russian court that tried Mikhail Khodorkovsky has said in an interview published on April 15 that it wasn't the judge who decided the jailed ex-oil tycoon's fate.

Igor Kravchenko, a former administrator at the Moscow court, told "Novaya Gazeta" that Judge Viktor Danilkin admitted taking orders from other people.

Khodorkovsky is serving a 14-year term after being found guilty in December of stealing more than $25 billion worth of oil from three subsidiaries of Yukos, his former oil company.

He was already serving an eight-year term on similar charges that were widely seen as punishment for challenging then-President Vladimir Putin.

Kravchenko is the second former court official to accuse Danilkin of failing to act independently, which the judge himself has repeatedly denied.

compiled from agency reports