Ex-Yukos CFO says pleased with European court 1.9 billion euro damage ruling

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Bruce Misamore, former chief executive officer of now-defunct Russian oil producer Yukos, said on Thursday he was "very pleased" with a decision from Europe's top human rights court to award shareholders with 1.9 billion euros (£1.50 billion) in damages. The Strasbourg-based European Court for Human Rights (ECHR)found that Russia had failed to "strike a fair balance" in its treatment of Yukos, once run by former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and had forced the company to pay excessive fees. "We are very pleased that the ECHR has awarded substantial damages for the Russian Federation's illegal, unfair, hasty enforcement measures, including fines and bailiffs charges, which resulted in the destruction of Yukos," Misamore said in a statement. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, editing by Thomas Grove)