MOSCOW, June 26 (RIA Novosti) - A Moscow Region court sentenced in absentia fugitive Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky to 13 years in prison after finding him guilty of embezzling 58 million rubles ($1.9 million at current rates) in 1994.
According to investigators, Berezovsky was the mastermind behind an organized criminal group and used his personal connections with a Russian car plant to embezzle the funds.
Over a dozen criminal probes have been launched in Russia against Berezovsky, a onetime close associate of late President Boris Yeltsin, including plotting to stage a coup and embezzling $13 million from a leading Russian bank.
Russia has issued multiple warrants for Berezovsky's arrest and has repeatedly demanded his extradition from Britain, where he was granted political asylum in 2000.
Dmitry Linsky, a public prosecutor, said the Russian Prosecutor General's Office would send yet another request for Berezovsky's extradition.
Berezovsky was earlier sentenced in absentia to six years in prison for embezzling funds from Russia's flagship air carrier Aeroflot.
