Alexander Kuchma submitted a lawsuit against the ex-Yukos chief, sentenced to eight years in prison in 2005 for fraud and tax evasion, based on an alleged homosexual advance which is supposed to have taken place three years ago, the www.khodorkovsky.ru website said.
According to the website, Kuchma filed the suit with the Meshchansky Court in Moscow. Court spokeswoman Anna Usachyova confirmed that a court date had been set for January 16.
The defense team of Khodorkovsky and his business partner, Platon Lebedev, maintain an official website dedicated to providing information on progress in legal cases of the former executives and other former-Yukos employees.
"In his lawsuit he genuinely claims that a long time ago he became the object of homosexual desire on the part of Khodorkovsky. Just recently, Kuchma 'remembered' this, although he has kept this horrible secret at the very bottom of his heart for the last three years," the statement read.
In April 2006, Khodorkovsky was placed in an isolation cell for eating food in an unauthorized area, and Kuchma was put in with him. During the period, Kuchma attacked Khodorkovsky cutting his face with a sharp instrument.
Khodorkovsky's lawyers said that the suit proves that the "criminal charges against Khodorkovsky have reached a dead end and are about to fall to pieces." They described the allegations made by Kuchma as a "political project" and a "three-ring circus," and have requested the claim be dismissed.
Khodorkovsky's defense team said that Kuchma's lawyers "cannot prove any of their fabricated charges and are just desperate."
Legal proceedings launched against the now defunct oil company Yukos in 2003, seen by many as politically motivated, resulted in the conviction of many executives and shareholders, including the founder and CEO.
A new criminal investigation against Lebedev and Khodorkovsky on separate charges of oil theft and money laundering was launched in early July.
