Russia's state prosecutor had asked a district court here to jail the former owners of Yukos oil company and Menatep bank for a further 14 years, Interfax news agency reported Friday.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev are already serving an eight-year term for alleged tax evasion, money laundering relating to the theft of 200 million tons of oil in 1998-2004. That sentence is due to end in 2011. The current trial involves charges of stealing the oil, raising claims by some that they are being tried twice over the same oil.

Prosecutor Valery Lakhtin said testimonies made by former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov and other witnesses during the last hearing in favor of Khodorkovsky, were "a lie", local media reported.

Kasyanov told the court that accusations against the two had been politically motivated.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet