Khodorkovsky ends hunger strike

MOSCOW - Jailed Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky ended his nearly weeklong hunger strike after hearing that his business partner Platon Lebedev was transferred from solitary confinement to a regular cell, Khodorkovsky's lawyer said Friday.

Khodorkovsky started the hunger strike last Friday to protest the decision to transfer Lebedev to a tiny isolation cell.

His lawyer Anton Drel told The Associated Press that Khodorkovsky ended the hunger strike Thursday after learning about Lebedev's release from the evening news.

Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were sentenced to nine years in prison each for fraud and tax evasion after a politically charged trial widely seen as part of a state-directed campaign to punish a prominent Kremlin opponent.

(AP via Yahoo!)