Khodorkovsky's lawyer says client shouldn't have declared hunger strike

MOSCOW — Mikhail Khodorkovsky should not have declared a hunger strike, the former Yukos CEO's defense attorney Genrikh Padva said Thursday.

"This is an extreme measure he shouldn't have taken. Since yesterday [Wednesday], Khodorkovsky's health has deteriorated," Pavda said.

The embattled tycoon is striking in protest against his business partner Platon Lebedev's placement in solitary confinement.

Pavda said when last saw Khodorkovsky that the oil magnate had been lethargic. As of Wednesday, he had not been force-fed.

Yury Kalinin, the head of the Federal Penitentiary Service, denied reports of a hunger strike.

"The prison administration has received no information an a Khodorkovsky hunger strike," he said.

He said a prisoner has the right to go on a hunger strike if prison rules are not broken in the process, but that a striking prisoner would be under special medical control. If the prisoner's condition worsens, he would be force-fed.

Another Khodorkovsky lawyer, Anton Drel, said his client had not reported the hunger strike earlier, hoping that Lebedev would be transferred to a normal cell Monday.

He also said Khodorkovsky had not informed jailers about the strike because he had no claims against the prison.

(The Russia Journal, 8.25.2005)