Jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky will greet the New Year in the darkness when his cell lights are turned off at 10pm on December 31, his lawyer said on Friday.
“There will be no New Year celebrations...the head of the prison colony might wish the convicts a Happy New Year in some form, but it will not change anything...On December 31, as on any other day, at 10 pm the 'lights out' order will be given," lawyer Vadim Klyuvgant told RIA Novosti.
Khodorkovsky, 47, recently said in an interview with the Karelskaya Guberniya newspaper that the lack of creature comforts behind bars was "nothing" in comparison with the pain he suffered from not being able to raise his children and live with his family.
The former head of the now-defunct Yukos oil company was sentenced to 13 years in December on oil embezzlement and money laundering charges. The sentence included seven years he had already served on earlier charges.
Khodorkovsky claims the charges against him were revenge for his funding of Russia's opposition. The Kremlin has consistently denied the allegations.
