MOSCOW, March 28 - RIA Novosti. The Moscow Tverskoy Court will hear on May 16 former Menatep head Platon Lebedev's lawsuit to recover $6,200 from the Finance Ministry as compensation for damages due to his illegal three-month detainment in 2010.

The civil lawsuit by the former business partner of Mikhail Khodorkovky, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison for oil theft and money laundering, was filed on the basis of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights and the Russian Supreme Court, which found groundless his detainment from May 17 to August 17, 2010.

The Moscow Tverskoy Court will hear on April 2 a similar lawsuit filed by Lebedev regarding his detainment from August 17 to November 17, 2010.

In 2005, Khodorkovsky and 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 now may be released in 2016.

The YUKOS case has been one of the most high profile in Russia in recent years. In the early 2000s, the authorities accused the executives of YUKOS, then the country's largest oil company, of economic crimes. YUKOS then went bankrupt while its assets were transferred to Rosneft. Many in the West believe the case was politically driven, but Moscow denies the charges.