Khodorkovsky To Appeal

From today's RFE/RL Newsline:

KHODORKOVSKII APPEALS TO EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS... Lawyers for jailed former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovskii said on 2 December that they will fight his transfer to a penal colony in eastern Siberia's Chita Oblast in the European Court of Human Rights, Russian news agencies reported the same day. Karina Moskalenko, one of Khodorkovskii's attorneys, said she and other members of his defense team have discussed the appeal with him during a recent visit to the colony, RIA-Novosti reported. "We have already appealed the illegal custody and we discussed the [possibility for an] appeal of the unjust trial," Moskalenko said. She added that the local prison officials at the colony are not guilty of violating Khodorkovskii's rights. BW

...AS LAWYER ASSAILS PRISON CONDITIONS. Prison officials at the penal colony in Chita Oblast where Khodorkovskii is serving an eight-year term, meanwhile, have toughened the rules with regard to the former Yukos CEO, Russian news agencies reported on 2 December. "After Khodorkovskii arrived at the prison, there have been repeated inspections, the regime has been toughened, and the atmosphere is tense," Khodorkovskii's defense attorney Yurii Shmidt said. As part of his incarceration, Shmidt said Khodorkovskii was required to knit mittens. Shmidt said Khodorkovskii is required to work six hours a day, has access only to local newspapers and is allowed to watch only films on television. "Mikhail [Khodorkovskii] would love to write something new that is bursting from his soul, but he has no information whatsoever," Shmidt said. BW