The St. Petersburg Times : Oil Tycoon Khodorkovsky Transferred to One-Man Cell

By Maria Danilova

Associated Press

MOSCOW — Oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been transferred to a one-man prison cell as part of the authorities’ campaign of intimidation against the man who was once Russia’s richest, his lawyer said Thursday.

Khodorkovsky’s transfer to the single-person cell Wednesday night came after an incident last week when another prisoner slashed him in the face while he slept.

Prison authorities said keeping Khodorkovsky away from other convicts at the Siberian prison where he is serving his sentence was needed for his personal safety.

Lawyer Yury Schmidt told reporters that his client was being punished.

“This is an attempt to demoralize, to discredit Khodorkovsky,” he said.

He said the move will deprive him of interacting with other people and taking advantage of prison facilities, such as the TV room.

“What (Khodorkovsky) was most afraid of was to be transferred to a one-man cell,” he said.

The founder of the Yukos oil company arrived at the prison camp in October to begin serving an eight-year sentence for tax evasion and fraud. Yukos — once Russia’s largest oil company— has been all but carved up by the state.

“Probably it didn’t seem enough for them; to give him eight years, to send him to the end of the world, to deprive him of normal human conditions ... they continue to be afraid of him,” Schmidt said.

The lawyer also said the slashing — which left Khodorkovsky with a relatively deep cut on his face and required stitches — was orchestrated by prison authorities, and he alleged that prison officials later found the attacker in possession of three knives.

A spokesman for the Federal Prison Service declined to comment on the allegations.