August 27, 2005

Ex-Yukos CEO Ends 7-Day Hunger Strike

Mikhail Khodorkovsky has ended his hunger strike after almost a week, his lawyer Anton Drel said on August 26, as a Moscow court set his appeal for Sept. 14. "He's in bad shape," Drel said, adding that his client could not begin to eat and drink immediately because it was too dangerous after what he claimed was nearly seven days without food and water. Depriving oneself of food and water brings severe health consequences, said Leonid Pechatnikov, the chief doctor at Moscow's European Medical Center. "A person can survive for seven days without food or water. It all depends on the individual and how healthy he is," he said, adding that a person can survive a maximum of 10 days without food or water. Defence attorney Yevgeny Baru said he had little hope for the appeal. "The date had been set even before the judges had time to read our remarks on the judgment," he said. "The Moscow City Court has long and justly held the name of 'Moscow City Stamp,'" he said. "It simply rubber-stamps the decisions of lower courts."

(Source: Moscow Times. Similar stories were reported by the New York Times and Vancouver Sun.)