Remember the former head of OAO Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, imprisoned in Russia’s YaG 14/10 prison camp at Krasnokamensk, Chita, near the border with China? Well, he’s fighting back against the regime that jailed him.
For starters, Khodorkovsky has submitted a request to the prison chief asking for permission to do academic work, according to his local lawyer, Natalya Terekhova.
Khodorkovsky has two university degrees and has signed a contract to write scientific articles for Khimiya I Zhizn (Chemistry and Life) magazine, Terekhova said.
“Logically, the state is interested in having Khodorkovsky engaged in science instead of politics and generating more money,” she said.
Sew-sew work
Terekhova noted that Khodorkovsky has never had a desire to work at the sewing factory to which he had been assigned.
In fact, Khodorkovsky was punished by the prison administration last December-while being trained as a sewing machine operator-for leaving his workplace at an “improper” time.
Terekhova plans an appeal against the prison administration with the city court if Khodorkovsky is ordered to work at the sewing factory.
The prison administration violates Khodorkovsky’s constitutional right for free choice of occupation by not allowing him to do scientific work or to teach, Terekhova said.
Convicts are subject to some restrictions with regard to the choice of occupation, but science and teaching are not on the list of banned professions, she said.
“No reaction to the request has come so far,” Terekhova said.
Excessive punishment
Meanwhile, Khodorkovsky has also begun to challenge his incarceration so far away from Moscow.
The Moscow Zamoskvoretsky court recently ordered Russia’s Federal Service for Prisons and Penitentiaries to present documents that formed the basis for Khodorkovsky’s assignment to Krasnokamensk.
The court also ordered the service to supply the legal act allowing convicts to be sent to distant districts.
Another of Khodorkovsky’s lawyers, Yury Schmidt, said the service would have to prove in court that “the only vacancies they could find were in penitentiaries 7,000 km from Moscow.” In particular, Schmidt noted that, “The Krasnokamensk penitentiary ranks 241st by the distance from Moscow. Only eight penitentiaries are located farther [away].”
Schmidt showed the court a document confirming that Russia’s penitentiaries had “about 150,000 vacancies” last September-a month before Khodorkovsky’s assignment to Krasnokamensk. “Khodorkovsky’s assignment to China was a certain excess on the part of the federal service, which was trying to please the boss. Now it is trying to prove by hook or by crook that only Chita had vacancies,” he said.
The defense asked the federal service to transfer Khodorkovsky closer to Moscow. Doubtlessly, he just wants access to better libraries for the sake of his scientific endeavors. ✦
