The European Court of Human Rights has faulted Moscow for unfairness in its handling of the 2006 bankruptcy of oil company Yukos and its jailing of former Yukos executives including Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the company's former boss.

The plaintiffs are seeking $98bn in damages over the demise of Yukos, which they have said would be distributed to former shareholders and other stakeholders.

Khodorkovsky founded the company in the chaotic years that followed the 1991 Soviet collapse. He was convicted on charges of fraud and tax evasion, but the Kremlin's critics say he was singled out for punishment because of his political ambitions.

Al Jazeera's Neave Barker reports from Moscow.