| Mikhail Khodorkovsky was found in the uranium mine zone The former head of YUKOS, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, sentenced to eight years in prison, will serve his sentence in a general regime colony in the city of Krasnokamensk, Chita region. Yesterday this was officially confirmed by the department of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) for the Siberian District (SFO). Over the next two weeks, Khodorkovsky will be in quarantine under medical supervision. And then, as the leadership of the Federal Penitentiary Service promised, he will be enrolled in the detachment and employed. At the same time, as in the case of Khodorkovsky’s associate, the former head of the Menatep MFO Platon Lebedev, who was transferred to the village of Kharp in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, they do not intend to make any concessions to the eminent prisoner and single him out from the general mass of prisoners. Despite this, Mikhail Khodorkovsky has already been visited by a local lawyer, and his Moscow defenders are already packing their bags.
Ten days have passed since the administration of Matrosskaya Tishina announced that Khodorkovsky was being sent to the place where he would serve his sentence. At the same time, FSIN officials were in no hurry to name the colony where the convict would spend the next six years (next Tuesday, October 25, it will be exactly two years since Khodorkovsky was taken into custody), citing the fact that this contradicts ethical standards. The management of the pre-trial detention center stated that they had sent a notification to relatives, and the Federal Penitentiary Service said that upon arrival at the place, Mr. Khodorkovsky himself would decide who should be notified of his whereabouts.
Throughout these ten days, different versions have been expressed about Khodorkovsky’s new “place of residence.” The region of Moscow and the Moscow region disappeared immediately, since there is not a single general regime colony there. At first they claimed that this was colony No. 13 in Nizhny Tagil, which was considered “privileged” and where many “celebrities” served time. Then they stated that this was another colony - No. 13 in the city of Engels, Saratov region, where NBP leader Eduard Limonov once visited. They were also waiting for Khodorkovsky in the colonies of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, in one of which, in the village of Kharp, Platon Lebedev was discovered a week ago.
And yesterday it turned out that Khodorkovsky is in Transbaikalia. The honor of housing the disgraced oligarch fell to the general regime colony YAG-14/10 in Krasnokamensk, Chita region. “Currently, Khodorkovsky is in quarantine, which will last up to two weeks. In the future, he will be enrolled in one of the detachments of the colony and employed,” said Alexander Pleshkov, head of the Federal Penitentiary Service for the Siberian Federal District, yesterday. At the same time, he described this institution succinctly. “This is a normal colony with normal living conditions,” said Mr. Pleshkov, and especially emphasized: “Khodorkovsky will enjoy all the rights and fulfill all the duties of a prisoner provided for by the general regime, like other prisoners!” The main contingent of the colony with a population of about a thousand people, according to the head of the Federal Penitentiary Service, consists of those sentenced to an average of five years for theft and fraud. “There are no criminal authorities there,” said Mr. Pleshkov.
The Krasnokamensky region of Transbaikalia is rich in uranium deposits. And at the end of the 60s, a colony was specially built there so that convicts would work in the mines. Priargunsky Mining and Chemical Association for processing uranium-containing ore was built by prisoners.
Although the Krasnokamensky district is considered a zone of man-made radioactive contamination, now prisoners no longer mine uranium. The local Federal Penitentiary Service said that in the YaG-14/10 colony there are different industries - sewing, turning, woodworking and souvenir shops. The sewing production is engaged in sewing bed linen for sensitive facilities, uniforms for employees of the penal system and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as clothing for special forces. The colony also has its own subsidiary farm, where they raise pigs and cows. The average monthly salary of a prisoner is 23 rubles. 23 kopecks.
Although FSIN employees emphasize that for them Khodorkovsky is an ordinary convict, like thousands of other mortals, in anticipation of his lawyers filing a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights, they in every possible way demonstrated that the colony in Krasnokamensk meets all international requirements for the maintenance of prisoners. “Recently, funds were allocated to the colony for reconstruction. The colony is equipped with a gym in which prisoners have the opportunity to exercise,” the local Federal Penitentiary Service reported. In addition, thanks to the help of the regional administration, the problem of tuberculosis among prisoners there has been “reduced to a minimum.” “Medical examinations of convicts are carried out regularly using a mobile fluorographic unit,” the Federal Penitentiary Service reported. The colony's net profit at the end of last year amounted to 117,441 rubles, while back in 2003 its losses were estimated at 171,794 rubles. Sales revenue in 2004 amounted to RUB 5,609,525, which is 19% more than in 2003.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky's wife, Inna, received notification of her husband's transfer by mail only yesterday. At the same time, the postmark indicated the date of departure - October 14, while in Matrosskaya Tishina they assured that the letter was sent on October 10, the day when Khodorkovsky went to prison.
The lawyer for the ex-head of YUKOS, Genrikh Padva, said yesterday that their client had already been visited by a local lawyer. “We also intend to go there in the near future to meet with Khodorkovsky,” Mr. Padva said. “We intend to go to the colony where Khodorkovsky is being held early next week,” said lawyer Anton Drel. According to him, this meeting is necessary to protest the verdict of Mikhail Khodorkovsky in a supervisory manner, as well as to draw up a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights. The lawyers have already managed to communicate with their Chita colleague, who visited the convicted oligarch, but have not yet reported the details of their conversation. “He doesn’t complain,” Mr. Drel summed up. Ekaterina BUTORINA |
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