Khodorkovsky’s lawyer Karinna Moskalenko said she launched the appeal on the final work day before a 10-day New Year vacation. She said Khodorkovsky’s conviction on charges of stealing almost $30 billion worth of oil from his company and laundering the proceeds was marred by procedural violations.

“The verdict has nothing to do with justice,” she said.

Khodorkovsky’s business partner Platon Lebedev received the same sentence Thursday and his lawyer also appealed the verdict.

The ruling drew strong condemnation from the US and European governments, who called it evidence of the use of Russia’s judicial system for political ends.

However, Mikhail Fedotov, the head of human rights council in Russia, said it would likely form a panel to study the verdict. He said it would report its conclusions to President Dmitry Medvedev, but would only release its findings after the appeals run their course.

The judge sentenced Khodorkovsky to 14 years, as prosecutors had demanded, and said the new term will be counted from his 2003 arrest and end in 2017.

The defense has said the charges reflected a lack of understanding of the oil business. 

Numerous witnesses testified that Khodorkovsky could not have stolen what amounted to almost all of the oil Yukos had produced.

The charges also contradicted the first trial, in which Khodorkovsky was convicted of evading taxes on Yukos profits. His eight-year sentence in that case had been set to end in 2011.