MOSCOW, November 16 - RAPSI. A court validated the sentence to Antonio Valdes Garcia, former general director of a YUKOS trading company, the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI) reported from the court on Wednesday.

The Fargoil director was earlier sentenced to eight years in prison for stealing and laundering $13 billion.

The Yukos case has been one of the most high-profile in recent years. In the early 2000s, the authorities accused the company's management of a wide array of economic crimes, after which YUKOS went bankrupt, and the state-owned Rosneft took over its assets. Many people in the West believe it is politically biased, but the authorities flatly reject such accusations.

Garcia's prosecution began in his absence in November 2008, but proceedings were suspended in February 2009 while the Prosecutor General's Office placed him on the wanted list, and was resumed in late 2010.

On July 18, a Moscow district court sentenced Garcia to eight years in a maximum security penal colony.

The sentence has been announced in absentia, as Garcia is hiding from the law.

Garcia was previously released under his own recognizance and fled in 2007.

The Moscow City Court held against the cassation appeal of his defense. Now the sentence has entered into force.