Co-defendant Platon Lebedev, one of Khodorkovsky's former business associates, was also found guilty and sentenced to nine years in prison. The sentences were one year short of the maximum 10-year penalty sought by the state prosecution.

Chief Justice Irina Kolesnikova said the decision by a three-judge panel could be appealed to a higher judicial authority within 10 days.

Defense lawyers had said they would appeal in the event of a verdict and sentence like that handed down Tuesday.

"I understand the sentence," Khodorkovsky said after it was pronounced. "It is a monument to Basmannyi justice," he said, using a term adopted by his supporters to signify dispensation of justice on political orders.

The Russian state prosecutor's office however described the verdict and sentencing as "fair and objective."

"It corresponds to the real circumstances of the affair and to the seriousness of the crimes committed by the accused," Natalya Vishnyakova, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor general's office, said in a statement reported by Interfax news agency.

Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were to serve their sentences in a standard Russian penitentiary, the court ruled.