WINNIPEG (CBC) - Lawyers for imprisoned former press baron Conrad Black will appear before a Chicago appeals court Thursday, trying to have his convictions for fraud and obstruction of justice overturned.

A panel of three judges will hear Black's appeal at 9:30 a.m. CT, along with the appeals of his co-defendants Jack Boultbee, Peter Atkinson and Mark Kipnis. A decision is not likely to be delivered today, as they can take as long as a few months.

Black, who is serving a 61/2-year sentence at the Coleman minimum-security prison in Florida, won't be present at the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Instead, he will be represented by his lawyers Alan Dershowitz, who has represented OJ Simpson and Mike Tyson, and Andrew Frey, who will e-mail Black once the hearing is over.

"Conrad Black and I are both feeling hopeful, but you never can be sure how a case - even a strong one such as ours - will strike the judges," Frey said in an e-mail ahead of the hearing.

A jury convicted Black on July 13, 2007 of obstructing justice and defrauding shareholders of his former newspaper company, Hollinger International Inc. His three co-accused were also convicted of three counts of mail fraud. The judge later threw out one of the convictions against Kipnis.

His lawyers launched an appeal in March, contending that the U.S. government didn't generate enough evidence to prove Black defrauded anyone or attempted to hide documents.

Frey argues the U.S. government failed to prove that Black obstructed justice by removing boxes from his offices in Toronto in the face of his pending eviction.

He and the prosecution will each have 30 minutes to present their cases and field questions from the judges.

If the appeal fails, Black will have to complete at least 85 per cent of his sentence before being eligible for parole.

Although the Chicago court ruled in February that Black could not delay the prison term during his appeal, it noted that "substantial questions" were raised about two of the fraud counts.

The court did also say, however, that issues related to another fraud count and Black's obstruction of justice conviction were "less clear."

With files from the Canadian Press

LIKE IT?  LET OTHERS KNOW