Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested on 25 October 2003. Seven months later his trial began in Moscow and on 8 June 2004 it was combined with that of his associate Platon Lebedev (arrested in hospital in July the previous year). Both men were sentenced on 31 May 2005 to 9 years imprisonment. In September 2005 sentence was reduced, on appeal, to 8 years. On 16 October they were transferred to penal colonies in Siberia.