[JURIST] A Russian court began hearing the appeal Wednesday of former Yukos [corporate website] oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky [JURIST news archive; defense website], who is in jail for tax evasion, fraud and embezzlement. In May, Khodorkovsky was found guilty on seven charges [JURIST report], and received a nine-year sentence [JURIST report]. Last month, Khodorkovsky announced his intention to run for the Russian parliament [JURIST report]; Khodorkovsky is only eligible to run while his case is under appeal or if his conviction is overturned. Khodorkovsky's lawyers say that the appeal will be quickly turned down in order to prevent the election bid, but have said that they will ask for a delay in the hearing because Khodorkovsky's rights had been violated and that his lawyers had not been given sufficient time to review transcripts from his trial. One of Khodorkovsky's lawyers did not attend Wednesday's hearing [BBC report] due to hospitalization, and according to Khodorkovsky's website, this postponed the hearing until Wednesday afternoon. Reuters has more. MosNews has local coverage.

10:08 AM ET - Hearings on the Khodorkovsky appeal have now been postponed until next week due to hospitalized lawyer Genrikh Padva's absence. AP has more.