Russian Prison
Officials Move HIV-Positive Man to Hospital

A former executive of the dismantled oil giant Yukos suffering from AIDS-related cancer and tuberculosis was moved from jail to a specialized clinic Friday, a Russian prison authorities spokesman said.

Vasily Aleksanian's transfer -- made after previous refusals to hospitalize the Harvard-educated lawyer -- represents a rare victory for defendants in cases against Yukos and its jailed founder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Khodorkovsky has been on a hunger strike for 11 days to protest Russia's treatment of Aleksanian -- treatment that has also raised concerns in the West.

But Aleksanian's lawyer, Yelena Lvova, said she had received no information about his whereabouts.

''This behavior is illegal,'' Lvova said. ''We have power of attorney -- we are entitled to have full information about his medical condition and how he is being treated.''

Federal Prison Service spokesman Valery Zaitsev said family members and attorneys would eventually be informed of Aleksanian's whereabouts, which he said was being kept secret for security reasons.

He said prison authorities were under no immediate obligation to release the information.

The prison service posted photographs on its Web site Friday of what it said was Aleksanian's hospital room before his arrival.

Simonovsky district court in Moscow decided Wednesday to suspend the embezzlement and money-laundering trial against Aleksanian because of his poor health. But the court said he needed to remain in custody, raising the prospect he would not be let out of jail.

Zaitsev said Aleksanian will remain under constant guard.

The European Court of Human Rights has called on prison authorities to transfer Aleksanian to a hospital specializing in AIDS.

Drew Holiner, Aleksanian's representative at the European court, said it was a disturbing development that his defense team had not been told where he was being held. ''The government should certainly be informing his lawyers about where they are taking him,'' he said. ''This not only concerns his legal rights as a patient and a prisoner but also concerns the matter of Russia's case before the European Court of Human Rights.''

Aleksanian, 36, the latest Yukos executive to stand trial, was diagnosed with HIV several months after being arrested. He was a vice president at Yukos and served as a lawyer for Khodorkovsky, who was convicted of fraud and tax evasion and is now serving an eight-year sentence in Siberia.

A lawyer for Khodorkovsky, Karina Moskalenko, said he would continue his hunger strike until he received confirmed information that Aleksanian was receiving treatment.

Western governments and politicians joined the chorus of condemnation and demanded improved conditions for Aleksanian.

U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters the U.S. has called on Russia to allow treatment for Aleksanian. ''It remains our concern that this and any other cases that are handled through the Russian system be done with respect for the rule of law and due process that aren't influenced by political consideration,'' Casey said Thursday in Washington.

Earlier this week, a group of European Parliament members submitted a petition to President Vladimir Putin urging him to show clemency toward Aleksanian and other jailed Yukos executives and calling his treatment a ''serious breach of fundamental human rights.''

Yukos, once Russia's largest oil producer, was broken up and sold off in auctions ordered by the state to pay off billions of dollars in alleged back taxes, and the charges against Khodorkovsky were widely regarded as Kremlin revenge for his political ambitions. (AP)