MOSCOW, December 2 (RIA Novosti) - Prison officials have toughened the rules at the prison where former Yukos chief executive Mikhail Khodorkovsky is serving an eight-year term, the oil tycoon's lawyer said Friday.
"After Khodorkovsky arrived at the prison, there have been repeated inspections, the regime has been toughened, and the atmosphere is tense," Yury Shmidt said, adding that prison regulations contradicted the law.
Shmidt said Khodorkovsky, found guilty of fraud, was required as part of the prison regime to knit mittens, although he preferred to do research.
"Instead, he is occupying someone else's place, depriving them of the opportunity to make money," the lawyer said, referring to the other, less financially secure inmates.
Shmidt also said his client worked six hours a day and had four hours of personal time. He said Khodorkovsky spent all his free time in the library, where he was the only visitor.
The lawyer said Khodorkovsky received only local newspapers and that all he could watch on TV was films.
"Mikhail would love to write something new that is bursting from his soul, but he has no information whatsoever," Shmidt said.
He said the majority of prison inmates were mostly young people, aged 18-20. "There are many illiterate young men among them, and he [Khodorkovsky] has no one to talk to," he said.
