State Duma considers a bill that approves imprisonment in any remote region of Russia.
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In order to provide a rational allocation for convicts that have to be transferred to imprisonment beyond the constituent territories of the country in which they lived before conviction because of a lack of penitentiaries or due to overcrowding, it is proposed to make changes to part 2 of article 73 of the Correctional Code.

Thus, the burden on overcrowded prisons located in major areas will be reduced and the rights of prisoners to a standard dwelling place will be fully provided.

Approval of the bill will make it possible to provide a rational placement for prisoners on the one hand and ensure their equality before the law on the other, the Federal Penitentiary service believes.

(Newsru.com, 15.05.2007)

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Currently part 2 of article 73 of the Correctional Code of the Russian Federation stipulates:

In the absence of a penitentiary of corresponding type or the impossibility of placing prisoners in the available penitentiaries in accordance with the place of residence or the place of conviction, prisoners are moved to the nearest penitentiaries located on the territory of the given constituent entity of the Russian Federation or, upon agreement with corresponding superior regulatory bodies of the Penal Enforcement system, to the penitentiaries located on the territory of another nearest constituent entity of the Russian Federation that has conditions for their placement.

Thus, by sending Khodorkovsky 6,500 km away from Moscow, they violated a territorial principle of service of sentence stipulated in the Correctional Code of the Russian Federation. In accordance with the standards of the current legislation, the transfer of Khodorkovsky may be regarded as strictly illegal.