FT.com / World - Khodorkovsky still defiant

By Neil Buckley in Chita, Siberia

Published: February 6 2008 22:06 | Last updated: February 6 2008 22:06

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the jailed Russian oligarch, voiced doubts on Wednesday that Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s likely next president, would be able to undo damage to the rule of law inflicted during the Putin era.

In his first face-to-face interview since his arrest in 2003 on fraud charges, Russia’s one-time richest man spoke to the Financial Times about his incarceration, his concerns for his own future and his long-term optimism for Russia.

Speaking in a courtoom in Chita, a Siberian city 6,500km east of Moscow where he is now being held, Mr Khodorkovsky stood inside the metal cage in which Russian defendants are kept in court.

Leaning against the bars, he looked gaunt and drawn on the ninth day of a hunger strike in support of an imprisoned manager of Yukos, the oil company he created.

He answered questions during a 40-minute break in a hearing related to new fraud charges against him.

Mr Khodorkovsky argues that President Vladimir Putin’s regime has used the law to target political enemies, especially business owners like himself. Asked if he thought Mr Medvedev, Mr Putin’s chosen successor as Russian president, could reverse the process, the 44-year-old former oligarch said: “It will be so difficult for him, I can’t even imagine . . . Tradition, and the state of people’s minds, and the lack of forces able to [support] any movement towards the rule of law, everything’s against him. So . . . may God grant him the strength to do it. All we can do is hope.”

The Kremlin insists that it has imposed order after the chaotic 1990s when Mr Khodorkovsky and others made fortunes through acquiring state assets. But Mr Khodorkovsky said that Russia’s biggest problem was the lack of the rule of law which he said was worse than in China. “Laws can be better and they can be worse. But people must abide by laws, and not use them for their own ends.”

However, he said he did not share concerns of some civil society and opposition leaders that democratic freedoms would continue to be eroded in Russia. “People can leave freely, the internet works.” It was just “not possible” that Russia could return to the darkest days of its Soviet past.

He said he believed China’s success with authoritarian capitalism was not a model for Russia. “I’m convinced that Russia is a European country, it’s a country with democratic traditions which more than once have been broken off during its history, but nonetheless there are traditions.”

The businessman was arrested in October 2003 and sentenced in June 2005 to eight years on fraud and tax evasion charges. His energy company, Yukos, which he built into Russia’s biggest after acquiring it in a controversial privatisation in 1995, was sold piecemeal to pay off $28bn back tax charges – with its assets largely gobbled up by Rosneft, the state-owned oil company.

He served the first part of his sentence in a prison colony in Krasnokamensk, a bleak uranium-mining town near the Chinese border, where the man who was once worth $13bn spent his days sewing shirts and gloves. He was moved to the regional capital last year after new charges were brought against him of embezzling more than $30bn in Yukos’ oil sales.

He now spends each day wading through documents for the new trial. If convicted, he now faces up to 22 years in jail.

He is contemptuous of the various legal assaults on Yukos. “The accusations are not connected with a real crime, but with a desire – the desire to take away people’s conscience, the desire to convince a witness to give evidence. It’s all about their various, conflicting desires.”

The Kremlin says all charges brought against Mr Khodorkovsky are legally justified and that he is no political prisoner but a convicted criminal.

But Mr Khodorkovsky’s supporters see him as the victim of a politically motivated response to his own political activities.

Mr Khodorkovsky said he planned to continue his hunger strike until his demands were met for Vasily Aleksanyan, a seriously ill former Yukos vice-president on trial on separate embezzlement charges, to be moved from his Moscow prison to a civilian hospital.

Mr Khodorkovsky said he now accepted calmly the dismemberment of Yukos. “I used up all my nerves in 2004, when a company that was working well was seized and handed over to Rosneft,” he said. “Rosneft today is basically Yukos with a bit added on.”

The former tycoon declined to comment on the conditions in which he was being held, calling them “standard” for Russia. Though he has been held in isolation since declaring his hunger strike.

FT.com / World - Unbowed in face of ‘absurd’ charges

By Neil Buckley

Published: February 6 2008 22:03 | Last updated: February 6 2008 22:03

Gaunt, a little jaundiced, his hair greyer and sparser than when he was last seen in Moscow at his sentencing three years ago, Mikhail Khodorkovsky stood defiantly in a Siberian courtroom on Wednesday despite being on the ninth day of a hunger strike.

He had been brought from a pre-trial detention centre in Chita, a city 6,500km east of Moscow, to a nearby court for a hearing relating to embezzlement charges brought against him last year.

During a long break, Mr Khodorkovsky answered questions from the Financial Times and a scattering of his supporters, speaking through the beige-painted bars of the cage in which Russian courts house criminal defendants.

His voice fading occasionally, prompting him to gulp water from a bottle, Mr Khodorkovsky spoke of his concerns for himself, his family and Russia.

Asked about his health after several days on a “dry” hunger strike before he decided to accept water, he twice insisted he was ­normalno, the shrugging Russian equivalent of OK.

Mr Khodorkovsky said he planned to continue his hunger strike until his demands were met for Vasily Aleksanyan, one of his former senior managers at the Yukos energy group who is now on trial on separate embezzlement charges, to be moved from his Moscow prison to a civilian hospital.

Mr Aleksanyan has been diagnosed with Aids, cancer of the lymph glands, ­suspected tuberculosis, and is nearly blind. He has accused prosecutors of ­trying to force him to give false testimony against Mr Khodorkovsky in return for medical treatment.

“What other way was there?” Mr Khodorkovsky said on Wednesday of his decision to stop accepting food last week in support of Mr Aleksanyan. “My health is OK. I’m fully ready for a long bureaucratic procedure while they check Aleksanyan’s health.”

Mr Khodorkovsky was initially on a “dry” hunger strike but decided at the weekend to start accepting water after Mr Aleksanyan said his prison conditions had been improved.

A Moscow court on Wednesday suspended Mr Aleksanyan’s trial but said he would not be released from prison. The court said he should receive treatment in the prison hospital, but Mr Aleksanyan’s lawyers say the prison is unable to provide adequate conditions for the treatment he needs. Even the head of the prison wrote to the court saying he needed to be moved for special treatment.

Looking generally relaxed in the Chita court, the former business oligarch said the $28bn (€19bn, £14bn) embezzlement charges against him were so absurd it was difficult to mount an effective defence.

“I’m being accused of stealing all the oil produced by Yukos over six years. It will be interesting to see how they intend to prove that,” he said.

He admitted that when he arrived in Krasnokamensk prison after his sentencing he had been an object of curiosity. But he said inmates and local people had treated him better than ­Muscovites.

“Here the word ‘conscience’ has not yet disappeared,” he said. “Of course, to a certain extent, I am a being from another world, an alien [to other prisoners],” he said. “[I told them] ‘So you didn’t have a political prisoner here before? Well, now you have one. They were around before. Get used to that situation.’ ”

Mr Khodorkovsky was refused an application when in Krasnokamensk to teach mathematics to other inmates but, along with other prisoners, sewed shirts and gloves.

His arrival did seem to raise other prisoners’ awareness of their rights.

“I don’t think that I was responsible. But people understood that they could defend their rights by legal means. Previously, when there was a problem, there were protests etc. But when I came to the colony, the situation changed, in that commissions started to arrive constantly, and the prosecutor came.

“And the first time the prosecutor came, one person went to see him, and only to talk about his case, not about his imprisonment. And everyone looked at him like he was nuts.

“The second time the prosecutor came, there was a whole queue waiting for him, 40 people. So to a significant degree, life started to change.”

Since his transfer to Chita, a city of stolid Soviet-era architecture on the trans­Siberian railway where morning temperatures this week have been about -28°C, he has been reading 200 pages of documents a day to prepare for his new trial.

The former tycoon declined to comment on ­suggestions that he had embraced the Russian Orthodox faith.

“That’s a complicated question. I have thought a lot about this. And I’d rather keep it to myself.”

Mr Khodorkovsky said he worried most about his parents. “What’s important is how my parents feel, the rest is not important.”

The former head of the stricken oil group argued that Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir Putin’s likely successor as president following elections next month, would face huge challenges restoring the rule of law in Russia. But he said that, despite the erosion of democracy, he was broadly optimistic about the country’s future.

“It’s a question of my ­personality. I can’t provide a lot of arguments for and against but, on the whole, I’m optimistic.”

Mr Khodorkovsky said China’s success with authoritarian capitalism was not a model for Russia. “Here in Chita ... if you ask people ‘Are you more like a Chinese person, or more like a European?’ Here I think people’s understanding is fairly unambiguous. We’re a European country. That’s how we developed. And the way forward for us is the European way.”

FT.com / Home UK / UK - Transcript of Khodorkovsky interview highlights

Published: February 6 2008 22:03 | Last updated: February 6 2008 22:03

Partial transcript of the FT’s interview with Mikhail Khodorkovsky, conducted by Neil Buckley in Chita regional court, Chita, Siberia. 6 February 2008

Financial Times: How long will you continue your hunger strike?

Mikhail Khodorkovsky: I said I would continue my hunger strike until the question is settled about an independent inspection into the conditions [of Vasily Aleksanyan] and whether he can be treated in the detention centre. And according to the results of that commission, some kind of action should be taken.

That’s what I’m saying. As far as I know, Russia’s human rights ombudsman Lukin he announced the same demands to the prosecutor

FT: You went from a dry hunger strike to accepting water because Aleksanyan’s conditions had been improved?


MK: He said that they had been, and we can only judge by what he said. Only by what he told the media, that the conditions of his imprisonment had radically improved.

FT: How is your health?

MK: I’m OK. I think I’m fully ready for a long bureaucratic procedure while they check the health of Aleksanyan. But as long as our bureaucrats drag out that procedure, I’m ready to continue.

FT: Why did you decide there was no other option than a hunger strike?

MK: What other way was there? Aleksanyan himself announced that the director of the investigative group had demanded false evidence from him against me, and made a direct link between him giving this false evidence in exchange for allowing him treatment. Alexanyan refused, and they are not providing treatment. He announced this in the supreme court of Russia. What can I do in that situation?

FT: What conditions are you held in? How many people in your cell?

MK: Under Russian law, if a person announces a hunger strike he’s held in isolation. Before that, there were two or three other people in the cell. I don’t really have any problem with the conditions of my imprisonment. For our country, they’re the norm.

FT: But the reputation of this detention centre is very poor.

MK: I can’t really get into discussions about that. But my conditions are standard, they meet the usual norms for Russia.

FT: What does your family think about your hunger strike?

MK: What’s important is how my parents feel, the rest is not important. I’ve been thinking most of all about my parents. My wife understands me, so she doesn’t question what I’m doing. She’s already been through a lot.

FT: Are you able to continue familiarising yourself with the material for the new trial?

MK: I’m still able to read 200 pages a day. The only really problem I have is with speaking, when my throat is dry.

FT: Some people say fear is returning to Russia, that things could go back to the Soviet era…

MK: I hope that that won’t happen. We need to be ready for the best…I don’t think it will happen. People can leave freely, the internet works. It’s just not possible.

FT: But the Federation Council will examine a law on internet this week?

MK: That’s just not possible. Everyone clearly understands that innovation is important, we won’t be able to survive without innovative technology.

FT: But does the government understand that?

MK: The government understands it very well. Even the oil industry can’t work properly without innovation. There can be situations where it’s very difficult to develop an oil well. Without innovation you can’t do it.

FT: But in China, there’s less democracy than here, but economy is developing.

MK: There are two important differences. First, I read an article by [Andrei] Illarionov [former economic adviser to Vladimir Putin]. Very interesting. He said three countries are considered examples of how authoritarian political regimes can develop their economies – China, South Korea and Singapore. How do these 3 countries differ from Russia? It’s very interesting. Singapore is number one by the state of its judiciary. South Korea is at a very high level, and even China is better than Russia. That’s the basic difference. The presence of the rule of law. If there is the rule of law, the level of authoritarianism of the executive branch is limited.

Another reason why we can’t take China as an example is because we’re a country where competition of ideas is important. The west is accustomed to competition in the political sphere, competition between parties. In China there is also an important kind of pluralism, but it is territorial. There is a Beijing party organisation, a Shanghai party organisation, which wield very serious economic and political power, and in the competition between the three possible systems, they are able to work out some kind of consensus opinion among the elite. So there is a kind of pluralism. It’s just different from the west and the west doesn’t understand it.

For Russia, the Chinese route is impossible because for us territorial pluralism could lead to the collapse of the country, and we can’t afford that. So accordingly, only a more standard form of pluralism is possible for us.

And to take the city state of Singapore as an example for Russia is not possible.

FT: So Russia’s biggest problem is the lack of an independent legal system?

MK: The lack of the rule of law, as a whole. Laws can be better and they can be worse. But people must abide by laws, and not use them for their own ends.

FT: Do you think Medvedev believes in the rule of law? When he becomes president is some kind of change possible?


MK: It’s very difficult for me to predict, because it will be so difficult for him. I can’t even imagine. Honestly speaking, if you asked me how to get Russia out of this situation, I would be utterly lost. Tradition, and the state of people’s minds, and the lack of forces able to [support] any movement towards the rule of law, everything’s against him. So…may God grant him the strength to do it. All we can do is hope.”

FT: But you still have an optimistic view on the future of Russia?

MK :Broadly, yes. But that’s a question of my personality. I can’t provide a lot of arguments for and against, but on the whole I’m optimistic.

FT: Has your view on the future of Russia changed during your imprisonment?

MK: You know, I ended up in prison at a fairly mature age to be able to seriously change one’s views. I’m convinced that Russia is a European country, it’s a country with democratic traditions which more than once have been broken off during its history, but nonetheless there are traditions. People are educated, they’re absolutely normal. You wouldn’t believe the extent to which I was able to speak in the same language - I’m a Muscovite, with a relatively high level, by our standards, of education - the extent to which I was able to speak the same language to people who live deep in the Chita region, who have only school-level education. We’re people of one culture, one understanding of the world. …Here in Chita, to say Russia is an Asian country, I think for many people that would be, well, I wouldn’t say an insult, but if you ask people are you more like a Chinese person, or more like a European, here I think the people’s understanding is fairly unambiguous. We’re a European country. That’s how we developed. And the way forward for us is the European way.

FT: How do other prisoners treat you?

MK: I, of course, to a certain extent am a being from another world, an alien, and in the camps it’s the tradition to rank people on a kind of scale. I said to them, So didn’t have a political prisoner before? Well now you have one. They were around before. Get used to that situation. Bring in new ranks.

FT: Was it true you were given the nickname “clever”?

MK: No, that wasn’t the case...Young people have nicknames, but not the older ones. For me, for example, it’s usual to refer to people by their name and patronymic, or by the patronymic, so people referred to me as Borisovich. It’s not unique, it’s a relatively accepted situation.

FT: Perhaps how they referred to you between themselves?

MK: Maybe, but it’s not important.

FT: What’s your attitude to what happened to Father Sergei [former priest at Krasnokamensk, defrocked after declaring Khodorkovsky a political prisoner]?


MK: When I first heard about it, I was upset. But in his second interview, with Moskovsky Komsomolets, he told the truth. I didn’t look closely at the first one. Perhaps he overstated things. But in the second one he got it right. He came to me, said Mikhail Borisovich, this will probably be the last time we will see each other. And I said that can’t be true, I know [patriarch] Aleksy fairly well. He’s the kind of person who couldn’t do that. And he said, you know Aleksy, and I know our church system. And he turned out right. He knows our church system better than I do. That upset me, but you have to say he went into all this with his eyes open. I very much respect him for that, and thank him. But a person has his beliefs, he was in prison with Kovalyov. He’s a man with convictions.

FT: Do you consider yourself an Orthodox person, a believer?

MK:That’s a complicated question. I have thought a lot about this. And I’d rather keep it to myself.

FT: People say that you raised the level of people’s legal awareness in the prison…


MK: I don’t know to what extent I was responsible for that. I don’t think that I was responsible. But people understood that they could defend their rights by legal means. Previously, when there was a problem, there were protests etc. But when I came to the colony, the situation changed in that commissions started to arrive constantly, and the prosecutor came. And the first time the prosecutor came, one person went to see him, and only to talk about his case, not about his imprisonment. And everyone looked at him like he was nuts. The second time the prosecutor came, there was a whole queue waiting for him 40 people. So to a significant degree, life started to change.

FT: What can you say about the new case against you?

MK: I have already said everything in my original statement. But I’m being accused of stealing all the oil produced by Yukos over six years. It will be interesting to see how they intend to prove that. It will be curious.

There have been various verdicts against Yukos. And the judges contradict each other on all sorts of questions, even in spite of the fact that the cases have all been supported by the federal prosecutor. So even they can’t make sense of it all, because they’re so confused about what they want. The accusations are connected not with a crime, but with a desire, the desire to take away people’s conscience, the desire to convince a witness to give evidence. It’s all about their various, conflicting desires. So the verdicts start to contradict one another.

FT: What’s your attitude to the auctions of Yukos assets that took place last year?

MK: I reacted to all that fairly calmly. Because I used up all my nerves in 2004, when a company that was working well was seized and handed over to Rosneft. Rosneft today is basically Yukos with a bit added on. To a large extent, it’s the same people. The production capacity is 75 per cent the same. Rosneft is Yukos after three years of peredelok.

FT: But now its market capitalisation is something like $80bn.

MK:Yes. But for me, to a significant extent, it’s more important that people didn’t lose their jobs, that they didn’t have to move to other cities and so on. That would be a catastrophe. I was always concerned that production would stop. A few times we came close to that, but fortunately, thanks to the efforts of the people who were themselves often under the threat of arrest, we preserved production. And people didn’t lose their job

FT.com / World - Khodorkovsky ‘laundered $23bn’

By Catherine Belton in Moscow

Published: February 9 2007 13:55 | Last updated: February 9 2007 15:01

Russian prosecutors on Friday said Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the jailed Yukos oil tycoon, laundered more than $23bn (€18bn, £12bn), in Yukos oil sales, disclosing the first details of charges that could keep the Kremlin opponent in jail for a further 10 years.

The prosecutors made their first full statement on fresh charges brought against Mr Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev earlier this week.

They said Mr Khodorkovsky and Mr Lebedev had illegally acquired more than $25bn worth of oil from Yukos subsidiaries from 1998 to 2003, passing the crude off as “well fluid” and then selling it on to consumers at prices three or four times higher. The pair are also accused of laundering the proceeds.

The prosecutors said they were also charging the two former tycoons with siphoning off shares in Eastern Oil Company in 1998 that should have belonged to the state.

Defence lawyers for Mr Khodorkovsky have said the new charges are part of a political effort to keep him behind bars beyond presidential elections in 2008 and to prevent him from funding opposition parties.

But Marina Gridneva, a spokeswoman for the prosecutors’ office, said on Friday: “There is nothing political about this. This is a purely criminal case.”

Mr Khodorkovsky maintains his innocence, in part through a website documenting his trial.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Medical plea fails in Yukos case

A court in Russia has ruled that a jailed former top manager of the disbanded oil group Yukos cannot be transferred to a clinic for treatment.

Vasily Aleksanyan, 36, is reported to be suffering from Aids.

He was jailed in 2006 after being found guilty of embezzlement. He was deputy to the Yukos founder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who is also in prison.

Mr Khodorkovsky says he is on hunger strike in support of Mr Aleksanyan.

He says officials are punishing Mr Aleksanyan for refusing to sign false confessions.

'Moral choice'

In a letter posted on his supporters' website on Wednesday, Mr Khodorkovsky said Mr Aleksanyan had been refused medication and deliberately placed in poor conditions.

He said he had no choice but to "abandon the legal framework" and start a hunger strike.

"I am facing an impossible moral choice: admit to crimes I haven't committed and save the life of a man, but destroy the fate of innocents who will be charged as my accomplices," he said.

Mr Aleksanyan says he has developed serious health complications and is nearly blind.

Russia's human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin has called for an independent medical examination of Mr Aleksanyan.

Mr Khodorkovsky, the founder of Yukos and once Russia's richest man, is serving an eight-year sentence at a prison camp in Siberia.

His supporters have always said that his arrest was punishment for his support of pro-Western opposition political parties.

Mr Khodorkovsky's international lawyer Robert Amsterdam said Russia was "flouting not only international law but the norms of morality".

RussiaToday : News : Freedom denied for dying ex-Yukos executive

Russia’s Federal Bureau for the Enforcement of Punishment is threatening legal action against the lawyer of former Yukos executive Vasily Aleksanyan. It claims her accusations that he is not receiving proper medical treatment are obstructing the course of justice.

The former Yukos executive says he's living in poor conditions and can't attend court hearings because he's suffering from AIDS and cancer.

"Am I Jack the Ripper? Have I blown up a train or killed two hundred people? How can you justify what is going on here? There is no justification for doing this," Aleksanyan said.

Nevertheless, a Moscow court rejected Aleksanyan’s request to be transferred to a medical centre, saying there was no evidence presented to prove it’s necessary.

Aleksanyan will have to remain in detention for the rest of his trial on charges of embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion.

The Russian Prison Service says it's Aleksanyan who is refusing treatment.

In fact some specialists say Aleksanyan is in much better living conditions than tens of thousands of other HIV-infected prisoners in Russia.

“More than 400,000 Russians are infected and 40,000 of them are in prison, and to my mind Aleksanyan is living in much better conditions compared to other HIV-infected prisoners,” said Vadim Pokrovsky, AIDS specialist.

Aleksanyan’s supporters

In Moscow, around 70 human rights activists are taking part in a picket to draw attention to Aleksanyan's fate.

Jailed Yukos shareholder, Platon Lebedev, has announced he's ready to make further confessions if this will help Aleksanyan get better treatment from the authorities.

Former Yukos CEO, Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been on hunger strike for three days, demanding better care for his former colleague. Then Khodorkovsky has stopped his dry hunger strike saying he will now only drink water.

Meantime authorities say Khodorkovsky could be force-fed if he refuses to eat.

The former Yukos CEO is serving his eight-year sentence in Siberia for fraud and tax evasion.

The Moscow Times : Aleksanyan Says He Is Receiving Care

Former Yukos executive Vasily Aleksanyan, who claims he was denied treatment for AIDS while in detention for not testifying against Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, said Thursday he was now receiving "unprecedented attention and care" in detention.

Aleksanyan, who is awaiting trial for embezzlement and tax evasion, also revealed to reporters at the Simonovsky District Court that he had been diagnosed with terminal lymphoma.

Aleksanyan is currently being held at the Matrosskaya Tishina detention facility in eastern Moscow, and he told reporters at the courthouse that his conditions were improved Wednesday.

"My cell was cleaned," said Aleksanyan, who appeared exhausted. "I returned from yesterday's hearing and thought I was in the wrong place."

The court is to rule Friday on a possible release and transfer to a clinic.

Human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin called Thursday for Aleksanyan to be provided with an independent medical examination.

Aleksanyan also thanked Khodorkovsky, the former Yukos CEO currently serving an eight-year prison term in Siberia, for going on a hunger strike Wednesday to protest prosecutors' handling of Aleksanyan.

"I am grateful for his support, although I'd rather he not put his life at risk, as he has four children," Aleksanyan said.

Aleksanyan has claimed that he has been deliberately denied medical treatment for AIDS while in detention as punishment for refusing to testify against his former bosses -- Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, who is also serving out an eight-year prison term.

By Svetlana Osadchuk and Natalya Krainova
Staff Writers

The Mocow Times : Aleksanyan Gets Support of Old Boss

Jailed former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky said Wednesday that he had started a hunger strike to protest prosecutors' handling of Vasily Aleksanyan, a former Yukos executive who claims he has been denied medical treatment for AIDS while in detention.

A preliminary hearing in Aleksanyan's case, meanwhile, was cut short Wednesday after the suspect began feeling unwell, Aleksanyan's lawyer said.

In an appeal to Prosecutor General Yury Chaika, Khodorkovsky said he had no choice but to go on a hunger strike to protest the authorities' treatment of Aleksanyan.

"I hope that the department you head will make the decision to guarantee Aleksanyan life and medical assistance," Khodorkovsky wrote in a letter that was posted on his web site, Khodorkovsky.ru.

One of Khodorkovsky's lawyers, Robert Amsterdam, said the hunger strike was understandable.

"Everyone has been totally shocked by this case," Amsterdam said by telephone from Canada. "Mr. Chaika and the executive power need to understand their personal liability in this case. They are giving orders in a system so that is so corrupt that officials can threaten suspects with murder to elicit false testimony."

Aleksanyan, who is facing embezzlement and tax evasion charges, claims he has been deliberately denied medical treatment for AIDS while in detention as punishment for refusing to testify against his former bosses, Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev.

Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are each serving out eight-year prison terms after being convicted of fraud and tax evasion in 2005.

The Federal Prison Service claims that Aleksanyan has merely refused treatment.

The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights has issued three requests for Aleksanyan, 36, to be transferred to a special hospital -- requests that have been refused by Russian courts.

Russia is a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights.

At Wednesday's hearing at the Simonovsky District Court, doctors were called in to examine Aleksanyan after he "suddenly felt unwell," his lawyer, Yelena Lvova, said.

"His temperature rose to 39 degrees, and doctors said he was in no condition to continue the hearing," Lvova said.

The hearing was to continue Thursday, though Lvova said she would "try to postpone the trial" until her client is feeling better.

The judge on Wednesday was to set a trial date and rule whether Aleksanyan would remain in custody, a Moscow City Court spokeswoman said.

Human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin sent a letter to Chaika on Wednesday requesting that the prosecutor general "take measures" to secure the necessary treatment for Aleksanyan, Lukin's assistant said.

By David Nowak
Staff Writer