Khodorkovsky's prison term cut by 2 months

Russia's highest court has reduced by two months the prison terms for jailed former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday reduced prison terms for Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev from 11 years to 10 years and 10 months.

Their lawyers, who demanded their release, said they would appeal.

Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were arrested in 2003 and convicted in 2005 of evading taxes on the Yukos oil company in the case widely seen as President Vladimir Putin's revenge for Khodorkovsky's challenge to his power, AP reports.

The two were convicted again in a 2010 for stealing oil from Yukos and laundering the proceeds. Last December, the Moscow City Court reduced their prison sentence from 13 years to 11 years, meaning they will be released in 2014.