[JURIST] Incarcerated former Yukos executive and lawyer Vasily Aleksanian [defense website] has been kept chained to his bed [press release] since his transfer to a Moscow hospital [JURIST report] for medical treatment earlier this month, his lawyer said Monday. Aleksanian was initially denied medical transfer by Russian authorities, despite three calls from the European Court of Human Rights to move Aleksanian to a medical clinic or risk violating the European Convention on Human Rights [PDF text]. Aleksanian's lawyer described Aleksanian's surroundings as unhygienic and said the conditions as "even worse than when he was in the prison." RIA Novosti has more.

Aleksanian was arrested in 2006 on charges of money laundering and embezzlement and was diagnosed with HIV a few months later. Fellow inmate and former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky [defense website; JURIST news archive] began a nearly two-week long hunger strike [JURIST report] after Aleksanian was first denied medical transfer, accusing officials of attempting to coerce Aleksanian into making false confessions and assisting prosecutors with charges against Khodorkovsky by denying proper medical treatment. Khodorkovsky ended his hunger strike [JURIST report] last week when officials confirmed that Aleksanian was transferred to a civilian medical center. Khodorkovsky was convicted of tax evasion [JURIST report] in 2005 and is currently imprisoned in Siberia.