MOSCOW (Reuters) - Jailed Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky said on Monday he had ended a hunger strike he began last month in protest at the treatment of a jailed colleague who is gravely ill with HIV/AIDS.
Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, declared thehunger strike in an effort to force the authorities to give36-year-old Vasily Alexanian, a former vice president at thenow defunct Yukos oil firm, access to proper treatment.
Russia's prison service on Friday moved Alexanian to aspecialist clinic from the medical ward of the prison where hewas being kept while he awaits trial on charges ofembezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion.
"I am ending my hunger strike in connection with the moveof Alexanian to a civilian clinic," Khodorkovsky said in astatement posted through his lawyers on his www.khodorkovsky.ruWeb site.
The initial refusal of Russian judges to move Alexanian --who is going blind and says he is near death -- to a clinicdrew condemnation from rights groups including AmnestyInternational. Prosecutors have denied mistreating Alexanian.
"I hope (Alexanian's transfer shows) there are fewerbureaucratic thugs ready to let a man die while trying to guessthe wishes of their bosses than there are honest andconscientious people," Khodorkovsky said.
Khodorkovsky, who is serving a prison term near the Chineseborder, says he earned the ire of the Kremlin by challengingPresident Vladimir Putin and refusing to allow corruptofficials to carve up his company.
Alexanian has said he is being used as a pawn to putfurther pressure on Khodorkovsky, who could face another trialthis year on new charges of money laundering and embezzlement.
Alexanian has a brother who works as a translator in theReuters Moscow office.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Giles Elgood)
