[JURIST] The Hague District Court on Wednesday overturned [judgment, in Dutch] a 2014 order [text, PDF] from the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) [official website] that Russia pay USD $50 billion to former shareholders of the Yukos oil company [Foreign Policy report]. The previous award handed down by the PCA was the largest award handed down to compensate for unfair tax proceedings by Yukos. The Dutch district court claimed in its decision that the PCA did not have jurisdiction to hear and oversee the issue. At this time former shareholders have stated that they wish to appeal the recent decision overturning the order against Yukos.

Last December Russia’s Investigative Committee charged [JURIST report] former Yukos oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky [JURIST news archive] with multiple murders and attempted murders during the 1990s according to the Interfax agency. In 2014 the Supreme Court of Russia upheld the tax claim keeping Khodorkovsky in exile and released his business partner Platon Lebedev [JURIST news archive]. Lebedev’s release came four months early, with the remainder of his sentence considered time served. Khodorkovsky was released from prison following a pardon [JURIST report] in 2013 from Russian President Vladimir Putin [BBC profile; JURIST news archive]. Despite the pardon, he remains liable for 17.5 billion rubles ($514 million) in tax claims against his company, Yukos Oil Co.