Mikhail Khodorkovsky has gone on hunger strike in protest against the latest court ruling against him that he says violates Russian law, the defense team for the former Yukos CEO said on Tuesday.
Khodorkovsky sent a letter to the head of Russia's Supreme Court saying his hunger strike, which he began on Monday, would continue until President Dmitry Medvedev was told what was going on.
"The hunger strike will continue until Khodorkovsky receives confirmation that the president has been informed of the sabotage that took place," a lawyer said, adding that this "does not just concern Khodorkovsky himself."
Once Russia's richest man, Khodorkovsky is already serving an eight-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion. He is now accused of stealing $9.6 billion from the $15.8 billion profit generated by Yukos between 1999 and 2003, as well as 350 million tons of oil.
Lawyer Vadim Klyuvgant said Khodorkovsky believed "the presidential will had been ignored" when Judge Viktor Danilkin on May 14 extended Kodorkovsky's and his business companion Platon Lebedev's detention in a Moscow prison until August 17.
Khodorkovsky said the decision violated a decree put forward by Medvedev, stating that individuals charged with economic crimes cannot be held in pre-trial custody.
Khodorkovsky's defense counsel Vladimir Krasnov said Danilkin was ruling in accordance with his "personal interests," and the prosecution had no legal right to demand the extension of his detention.
"They are spitting on the law and the presidential amendments," he said.
Conditions at pre-trial detention facilities where Khodorkovsky is being held are harsher than in an ordinary Russian prison or labor camp. However, his defense counsel said Khodorkovsky was not so much concerned about his own situation as about the ruling setting a precedent for others accused of economic crimes.
Khodorkovsky told the Khamovniki court earlier that he could not understand what he was accused of because his specific actions were not described in the criminal case.
MOSCOW, May 18 (RIA Novosti)
