Yukos Execs Tortured»

The Russian defense lawyer of jailed billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovskiy, Genrikh Padva, said that Khodorkovskiy has not been intentionally tortured in jail, but conditions there are so grim that it is only natural he looks unwell.

Padva was commenting on remarks by Khodorkovskiy's American lawyer Robert Amsterdam that the former Yukos boss has not been looking as good as he used to and, together with some other jailed Yukos officials, might have been subjected to torture.

Speaking on Ekho Moskvy radio on 19 February, Padva said: "The fact is, it is necessary first to understand what is meant by torture. If we have the old idea of torture where, you know, burning hot iron is used, a vice, people are suspended from the ceiling somewhere, and so on and so forth, then this kind of torture, in the modern world, is not used, certainly not in civilized countries.

"However, as acknowledged by various international bodies that deal with issues of imprisonment, being imprisoned in our jails is itself equivalent to torture, inasmuch the conditions are not at all fit for human beings. So torture in the literal sense is of course not applied to him. But all sorts of moral restrictions do take place."