NOVOSIBIRSK, January 29 (RIA Novosti, Maxim Koshmarchuk) - It could take the court two to three hearings to review petitions submitted by the defense team for jailed Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky, his lawyer said Sunday.

"The practice of petitions against punishment in penitentiary colonies is not common," Natalia Terekhova said. "I think two to three hearings [to review the petitions] would be enough."

The hearings on the first petition against the decision of the colony's administration to reprimand Khodorkovsky for breaking the prison rules has been scheduled for February 1.

The date for hearings on the second petition against placing the former tycoon in a solitary confinement for five days on January 24 for keeping documents and items that prisoners are not allowed to have is to be decided yet.

Commenting on the latter punishment, Khodorkovsky's lawyer Yury Shmidt said earlier that the authorities had purposely taken this action to prevent the possibility of a milder sentence and even parole, which could be considered six months after the arrival at a colony.

Khodorkovsky has been serving an eight-year sentence in Krasnokamensk in the Chita Region for tax evasion and fraud since October 15, 2005.