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Russia sends Khodorkovsky to Karelia

Mikhail Khodorkovsky (photo: khodorkovskycenter.com)

The former owner of Yukos will most likely spend his next five years in a Karelian prison.

Location

Mikhail Khodorkovsky has spent the last four days in an isolator in Vologda and will in the course of the next two days be sent to the Republic of Karelia, a representative of regional prison authorities confirms. According to newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Khodorkovsky is likely to spend his next five years in the republic.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his companion Platon Lebedev, convicted of fraud and tax evasion in a first trial in 2005, were found guilty of theft and money laundering over Yukos’ operations in a second trial on 30 December 2010. The Moscow City Court on 24 May this year rejected an appeal from the two men.

The most probable prison for Khodorkovsky is the local prison No 7 in the municipality of Segezha. The prison has about 1350 inmates, and offers training in manufacturing of furniture, and items of plastics, wood and metals, Kommersant reports. The prison reportedly also engages in animal breeding and vegetable production, and has a small Orthodox chapel.

The transfer of Khodorkovsky to Karelia also means that it will be a local Karelian court which will have to handle appeals on his release. Khodorkovsky has spent the last period in the Matrosskaya Tishina prison in Moscow and an appeal about his early release has been filed by his lawyers to a local Moscow court. This appeal will now be handed over to a court in Segezha.

The transfer to Karelia means that Russia’s most famous prisoner will be located in the Barents Region, not far from Finland. The new location could possible make authorities and human rights groups in the neighboring Nordic countries step up their pressure on the release of the former business tycoon.