Jailed former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky is on hunger strike to protest against what he says is an illegal decision to extend his detention in a Moscow prison, his spokesman said on Tuesday. Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, was arrested in 2003 after falling foul of the Kremlin and is serving an eight-year sentence for tax evasion after a trial his supporters dismissed as a farce.
Last week Khodorkovsky's detention in Moscow's notorious Sailor's Rest prison was extended by three months by the judge in a second trial which could lead to him being sentenced to an additional 22 years on charges of theft and money laundering. In a letter addressed to the head of the Supreme Court, Khodorkovsky said the decision violated an order by President Dmitry Medvedev that people accused of economic crimes should not be held in pre-trial detention.
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