Andrei Illarionov

Moscow, June 2 (Reuters): A maverick aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin today said the conviction of oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky had caused Russia massive harm and was changing the political landscape of the country.

In typically outspoken comments, economic adviser Andrei Illarionov said the ex-Yukos boss’s prosecution ? widely seen as a Kremlin drive to crush an independent voice ? was the most significant event since the fall of the Soviet Union.

“The Yukos affair has not ended. What’s more, it is only just starting. The case has caused great damage to our country,” he said.

“(It) is the biggest economic and political event of the last 14 years ... What is happening now is changing the economic and political situation in the country,” said the aide, who makes a habit of breaking with the Kremlin line.

A Moscow court this week sentenced Khodorkovsky to nine years in jail for fraud and tax evasion. In parallel, his Yukos oil company has been dismembered after it was presented with a $27-billion back tax bill.

The Kremlin says Khodorkovsky and his firm broke the law and it denies any political motive.

The court that tried the tycoon also came in for criticism from Illarionov, who earlier this year was sacked as Russia’s representative to the Group of Eight developed nations after criticising the Yukos affair as the “scam of the year”.

“I think the court showed deep incompetence from the economic and judicial points of view. I was shocked by the low level of people representing the state,” he said. “I felt a deep sense of shame for a state that for some reason had to be represented in such a way.”

The harshness of the 9 year sentence, just one year short of the maximum demanded by prosecutors, raised eyebrows abroad and stoked investors' concerns about a deteriorating business climate in Russia.

Both Khodorkovsky and business associate Platon Lebedev, who was also sentenced to nine years in a prison camp, have pledged to appeal against their guilty verdicts.

A statement from their lawyers said Lebedev filed his appeal on Thursday, while Khodorkovsky was likely to appeal soon.