IRKUTSK, October 20 (RIA Novosti, Alexander Batalin) - Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of embattled oil giant Yukos, has been transferred to a penal colony in Russia's Far East to serve out his eight-year prison sentence, a regional law enforcement source said Thursday.
The source said Khodorkovsky was transferred last Saturday to standard penitentiary no.10 near the Chita region city of Krasnokamensk not far from the Chinese border.
The city of 50,000 is home to one of the world's biggest uranium processing plants, as uranium ore is mined in the vicinity.
Deputy head of the Russian Penitentiary Service Yury Yakushevsky did not confirm or deny the information, referring only to the Criminal Code.
"In accordance with the code, we have the right to provide information on the whereabouts of a convict only to a court. If a convict's relative sends in a request on the whereabouts, we must provide an answer in 10 days," Yakushevsky said.
Khodorkovsky's lawyers have not been informed of their client's location. "There has still not been any official information on Khodorkovsky's whereabouts," lawyer Albert Mkrtychev said, adding that he would find out only after Khodorkovsky's relatives had received an official notification letter.
"I think the letter will arrive no earlier than this Friday or Saturday," he said, without clarifying what he meant.
The head of Siberia's penal service confirmed Thursday afternoon that Khodokorksvky had been transferred to a colony in the Chita region.
"I can say that he [Khodorkosvky] has been transferred to the Chita region," Alexander Pleshkov said. "I don't know the colony's number, [and] I don't need this information."
