Jailed tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky will have to choose between personal meetings with relatives and interviews with journalists, Russian Federal Penitentiary Service official said on Wednesday.
The official, Sergey Smirnov, said Khodorkovsky, who is serving a 13-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion in a Karelian prison in northwestern Russia, would be able to meet with journalists, but that the meetings would count against the entire number of visits he is allowed.
Khodorkovsky’s lawyer, Yury Schmidt, had blasted the decision, calling it illegal.
Khodorkovsky, an outspoken Kremlin critic, has regularly contributed to Russian opposition newspapers including the weekly The New Times, Novaya Gazeta and Nezavisimaya Gazeta.