An aide to the Russian judge who convicted Mikhail Khodorkovsky at his second trial last year has said he did not write his own verdict.
Judge Viktor Danilkin resented having to take orders from above during the trial of the former tycoon, Natalya Vasilyeva told Russian media.
The judge denied her allegations, describing them as slander.
The trial for fraud of Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev was widely condemned abroad as unfair.
Already in detention since 2003, he was sentenced to a further six years in prison and is not now due for release until 2017.
Under Russian law, it is for the judge alone to write his verdict, without any interference by other members of the judiciary.
According to Ms Vasilyeva, Judge Danilkin was indignant at having to take orders and was anxious and irritable because of it.
When asked for confirmation of what she had reportedly told Russian media, Ms Vasilyeva's office said she was on holiday. BBC News
