Chita jail to supply assessment of Khodorkovsky within ten days

The Ingodinsky district court in Chita has formally requested the city’s pre-trial detention centre to supply documents and a character reference for Mikhail Khodorkovsky to assist in hearing his application for release on parole.

“A letter was sent on 23 July to the Chita pre-trial remand centre,” Interfax-Siberia were told by Maxim Solovyov, judge’s assistant at the Ingodinsky court. The date of the hearing had not yet been decided, said Solovyov, and it was premature to discuss approximate deadlines for the hearing.

The Chita jail informed Interfax that the character reference for Mikhail Khodorkovsky would be provided on time. The text describing the ex-head of Yukos would be extremely objective, stated the RF Federal Penitentiary Service. “Any assertion in such a reference must have documentary confirmation and any inaccuracy in the document can be easily exposed and refuted,” Interfax was told on Thursday by the FPS.

The law states that the character reference for the prisoner, as requested by the court, must be provided within ten days, said an FPS spokesman. “Usually the reference indicates the circumstances under which the prisoner is held in a place of confinement, and contains information about infringements of the facility’s regulations and any punishments if such have occurred. Or, on the contrary, it states that the individual has shown himself in a most favourable light,” commented the agency’s informant.

The reference is composed by the penal colony (or prison) administration and “various staff members, psychologists and representatives of all the prison services with whom the prisoner has come into contact” will participate in its compilation as well. A note on all the medical conditions of the prisoner is also attached.

At the same time, the agency’s informant reminded us, “the key decision in examining the parole issue is made by the court, not the character reference supplied by the penal colony (prison).”

(Interfax, 24.07.2008)