MOSCOW, October 18 - RAPSI. On October 23, the European Court of Human Rights will publish its findings on an application by a former YUKOS security service head sentenced for life on charges of organizing several murders, his attorney Ksenia Kostromina told RAPSI.

Kostromina said Alexei Pichugin's application seeks to have the court recognize that in reviewing his case, three article of the European Convention on Human Right were violated: one prohibits torture, another concerns rights infringement in the course of arrest and custody extension and the third is the guarantee to the right of fair trial.

Pichugin was charged with organizing murders and with attempted murder. He received a 20-year sentence for the first charge and was sentenced to life for the second charge.

Specifically, Pichugin was found guilty of planning the murder of Nefteyugansk mayor Vladimir Petukhov in 1998 and of arranging the attempt on the life of former Mikhail Khodorkovsky advisor Olga Kostina in November 1998.

Pichugin has denied all the charges.

In 2005, Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his partner Platon Lebedev were sentenced to eight years in prison for fraud and tax evasion. In late 2010, a Moscow district court sentenced them to 14 years in prison for oil theft and money laundering. They were expected to be released in 2017, taking into account the time they had already served for their convictions from their first trial in 2005. However, on May 24, the Moscow City Court reduced their sentences by one year. They are now eligible for release in 2016.