The Associated Press, By Catrina Stewart, 21 August 21 2008

Jailed Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky told a parole hearing in a Siberian court on Thursday that he does not plan to return to the oil industry where he made his fortune.
<…>
"After my release, I do not intend to return to the oil industry," Khodorkovsky told a packed courtroom. "I intend to engage in humanitarian activities and dedicate myself to my family."

The hearing was adjourned until Friday.

The prosecution of the oligarch was widely seen as an attempt to silence a Kremlin opponent and consolidate control over Russia's strategic energy sector.

The charges and subsequent demand for huge back taxes led to the effective renationalization of Yukos, which was taken over by the state oil company Rosneft.

Khodorkovsky's parole hearing is seen as a key test of new President Dmitry Medvedev's commitment to reforming the judiciary. Medvedev has promised to combat Russia's "legal nihilism."

Local prison officials noted Khodorkovsky's good behavior while in jail, but oppose his early release because he has not admitted his guilt and does not repent his crimes, Judge Igor Faleleyev said Thursday.

Even if granted parole, Khodorkovsky will not walk free immediately, his lawyers said. New charges were brought against the former billionaire and his business associate Platon Lebedev in June. Khodorkovsky is being held in pretrial detention on those charges until Nov. 2 at the earliest.

Khodorkovsky's 74-year old mother, Marina, who attended the hearing, said she held out "little hope" of her son's early release.

RIA Novosti, 21 August 21 2008

The administration of the prison where Mikhail Khodorkovsky is serving his sentence opposes a release on parole for the Yukos founder, a local court judge said on Thursday.

The Ingodinsk court is considering an appeal on granting a parole to Khodorkovsky, who is serving an eight-year term in East Siberia for fraud and tax evasion.

Thomson Financial News Super Focus, 21 August 21 2008

A Russian court is expected to rule Friday on whether to release jailed oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky after five years in prison, his lawyer said.

'I think there will be a decision tomorrow,' Khodorkovsky lawyer Yury Schmidt told AFP by telephone after a hearing was adjourned in the eastern Siberian city of Chita.

Reuters, By Chris Baldwin, 20 August 21 2008

Mikhail Khodorkovsky's appeal for early release comes before a court on Thursday in what his lawyers say will be a test case for President Dmitry Medvedev.
<…>
His lawyers say the appeal will be a test case for Russia's new president, who has said he wants to improve the rule of law and reform the judicial system.

"I think that this is a test case for President Medvedev," Khodorkovsky's main defence lawyer, Yuri Shmidt, told Reuters.
<…>
On Wednesday, a few well-organised Khodorkovsky supporters stood in a summer rain shower outside Chita theatre, handing out flyers and asking passers-by to sign a petition in support of the tycoon and his jailed business partner Platon Lebedev.

The Chita mayor's office had granted permission for a rally and Khodorkovsky's supporters greeted ballet patrons entering the theatre for a production of Swan Lake.

"People who know the subtleties of the case, and I have no relationship to them, cannot imagine why he was sentenced in the first place," said Alexander Lyitsus, deputy director for the Chita mayor's office of public affairs.

But Khodorkovsky supporter Maria Savoteyeva was sceptical about any positive outcome from his appeal.

"As a civilian activist I should be sounding out the positives, but as a right-minded human being living in today's Russia, there is just no room for optimism," Savoteyeva said.