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Jailed Yukos executive is denied cancer treatment
By Shaun Walker in Moscow
Thursday, 7 February 2008
An imprisoned executive of the former oil giant Yukos has been refused
hospital treatment for Aids and cancer by a Russian court.
Vasily Aleksanian, vice-president of one of Russia's largest companies, was
due to be tried this week on charges of embezzlement, money laundering and
tax evasion, after being declared fit and healthy by the court last week.
A wave of domestic and international pressure seems to have influenced the
situation, and yesterday the trial was postponed. But the court ruled that
Mr Aleksanian should receive treatment in prison, and not in a specialist
hospital. Mr Aleksanian denies all the charges brought against him, which he
says are politically motivated. He claims investigators offered him a deal
where he would be freed and allowed to receive treatment abroad if he gave
testimony against Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of Yukos.
Khodorkovsky, who was convicted in 2005 in a trial that many suspect was
revenge for his backing of democratic parties, has been condemned to a
Siberian prison cell until 2011. But he may face another trial this year
that could extend that term. "I had the courage not to make those statements
that they asked me to make," Mr Aleksanian told the court yesterday.
Late last week, the presiding judge said there was no evidence that the
defendant was too ill to stand trial. Mr Aleksanian has late-stage Aids,
lymphoma and has gone partly blind.
He is also believed to have contracted tuberculosis in prison. A source
close to Mr Aleksanian said he was not given any medical attention for a
month in hospital, and was then visited by a doctor who suggested he had
caught a cold. "A decision was taken to destroy me, and it seems it's very
easy to do that in our country," said Mr Aleksanian. "The Gulag is alive and
well."
A group of writers and journalists have signed a petition demanding his
transfer to a hospital, and Khodorkovsky is already in the 10th day of a
hunger strike in support of his former colleague. Analysts say the publicity
surrounding the case would have made the Kremlin uncomfortable so close to a
presidential election, and there were fears Mr Aleksanian might die while
standing trial.
Nevertheless, the court refused the application to move the defendant to a
hospital, saying that he might try to escape.
By Shaun Walker in Moscow
Thursday, 7 February 2008
An imprisoned executive of the former oil giant Yukos has been refused
hospital treatment for Aids and cancer by a Russian court.
Vasily Aleksanian, vice-president of one of Russia's largest companies, was
due to be tried this week on charges of embezzlement, money laundering and
tax evasion, after being declared fit and healthy by the court last week.
A wave of domestic and international pressure seems to have influenced the
situation, and yesterday the trial was postponed. But the court ruled that
Mr Aleksanian should receive treatment in prison, and not in a specialist
hospital. Mr Aleksanian denies all the charges brought against him, which he
says are politically motivated. He claims investigators offered him a deal
where he would be freed and allowed to receive treatment abroad if he gave
testimony against Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of Yukos.
Khodorkovsky, who was convicted in 2005 in a trial that many suspect was
revenge for his backing of democratic parties, has been condemned to a
Siberian prison cell until 2011. But he may face another trial this year
that could extend that term. "I had the courage not to make those statements
that they asked me to make," Mr Aleksanian told the court yesterday.
Late last week, the presiding judge said there was no evidence that the
defendant was too ill to stand trial. Mr Aleksanian has late-stage Aids,
lymphoma and has gone partly blind.
He is also believed to have contracted tuberculosis in prison. A source
close to Mr Aleksanian said he was not given any medical attention for a
month in hospital, and was then visited by a doctor who suggested he had
caught a cold. "A decision was taken to destroy me, and it seems it's very
easy to do that in our country," said Mr Aleksanian. "The Gulag is alive and
well."
A group of writers and journalists have signed a petition demanding his
transfer to a hospital, and Khodorkovsky is already in the 10th day of a
hunger strike in support of his former colleague. Analysts say the publicity
surrounding the case would have made the Kremlin uncomfortable so close to a
presidential election, and there were fears Mr Aleksanian might die while
standing trial.
Nevertheless, the court refused the application to move the defendant to a
hospital, saying that he might try to escape.