MOSCOW, March 26 - RAPSI. The Khamovniki and Meshchansky district courts have submitted for review upon the request of the Supreme Court the cases of former YUKOS CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner, former Menatep CEO Platon Lebedev, the Khodorkovsky-Lebedev press center website reported on Tuesday.

On February 15, Supreme Court Judge Sergei Shmalenyuk asked the two district courts that convicted Khodorkovsky and Lebedev in 2005 and 2010 to send their rulings to him for review as part of a "supervisory procedure," according to a Kommersant report.

The YUKOS case is one of the most high-profile cases in Russia in recent years.

YUKOS, then the country's largest oil company, was declared bankrupt and its assets were taken over by Rosneft. Many in the West believe that the case was politically driven, although Moscow has denied the charges.

In 2005, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were sentenced to eight years in prison for fraud and tax evasion as part of the first YUKOS case.

In late 2010, the Khamovniki District Court sentenced them to 14 years in prison for stealing oil and laundering money as part of a second case. They were expected to be released in 2017, taking into consideration the time they had served for the convictions handed down at their first trial.

Their sentences were later reduced by one year.

On December 20, 2012, the Moscow City Court Presidium reduced their sentences from 13 to 11 years.

On March 19, 2013, Lebedev appealed to the Investigative Committee to open a criminal case against the Moscow City Court judges who considered his appeal against the original Khamovniki District Court ruling that sentenced Lebedev and Khodorkovsky.

Lebedev claims that the judges committed forgery when considering the appeal against the Khamovniki District Court's ruling and believes they should be prosecuted.

Lebedev's appeal lists various claims, such as the "inclusion of evidently false information in the court ruling, which constitutes conscious forgery by an official."