MOSCOW, December 18 - RAPSI. The Moscow District Federal Commercial Court has registered the Luxembourgian Yukos Capital S.a.r.l.'s cassation appeal against a ruling to invalidate four loan contracts granting 11.233 billion rubles ($365 million) to Yuganskneftegaz, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) on Tuesday.

On June 28, the Moscow Commercial Court upheld IK Vesta's lawsuit to invalidate the contracts. IK Vesta is a Rosneft shareholder to which Yuganskneftegaz was joined after YUKOS went bankrupt.

Yukos Capital S.a.r.l. and Rosneft were the defendants in the case. On October 15, the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals upheld the first-instance court's ruling. The applicant requested to cancel the judicial acts. Vesta maintained that the loans were issued in breach of legislation.

The lawsuit was submitted in 2007. Its consideration was later suspended until the criminal case ended against former YUKOS head Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev.

A Moscow district court sentenced both men to 14 years in prison for oil theft and money laundering in 2010. They were set to be released in 2017, considering 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 and now they are expected to be released in 2016.