Khodorkovsky on hunger strike
Jailed Russian oil boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky has gone on a hunger strike in
solidarity with imprisoned colleague Vasily Alexanian, who, it is claimed,
has been denied treatment for AIDS, his lawyer said.
Russia's Supreme Court has refused to release Alexanian, another jailed
Yukos executive. Alexanian has AIDS and claims he will die in prison
because prosecutors are deliberately denying him life-saving treatment.
"He has started a hunger strike," Khodorkovsky's lawyer, Robert Amsterdam,
told Reuters today.
Amstersdam criticised Western governments for not speaking out against the
treatment of Alexanian and said Russian prosecutors were "flouting not only
international law, but the norms of morality".
Jailed for tax evasion and other crimes in a case seen as the Kremlin's
vendetta for his political ambitions, Khodorkovksy made a vast fortune
following the Soviet Union's collapse. He is serving a nine-year term in a
Siberian prison camp.
"Khodorkovsky doesn't do things very much halfway. I would say an action like
this is pretty serious," said Amsterdam.
Russia has ignored requests from the European Court of Human Rights that
Alexanian be moved to a hospital from jail, where he is being held on
pre-trial detention. His case has also been championed by London-based human
rights campaigners Amnesty International.
Alexanian says he is nearly blind and has a constant fever and suspected
tuberculosis. Appearing in court on a video link from his Moscow prison
earlier this month, he spoke hoarsely, had difficulty standing and at times
appeared close to tears.
He has a brother who works as a translator in the Reuters Moscow office.
30 January 2008 12:21 GMT
| last updated:
30 January 2008 12:21 GMT
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