[JURIST] A lawyer for imprisoned Russian oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky [defense website; JURIST news archive] said Monday that the founder of the now-defunct Yukos oil company has appealed a Siberian court's rejection [JURIST report] late last month of his request for parole. RIA Novosti quoted Khorkovsky lawyer Semyon Rozenberg as saying that "The documents have been sent to the district court, but have not been received yet." Khodorkovsky, a longtime political opponent of former President and now Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, filed the request in July, four months after Dmitry Medvedev took over as president on a platform of fighting corruption and fostering a more independent judiciary [JURIST report]. RIA Novosti has more.

Khodorkovsky was sent to prison by the Russian government in 2005 to serve an eight-year sentence for fraud and tax evasion [JURIST report], charges which he still denies. The judge ruling on his original parole application [JURIST report] said it was rejected because Khodorkovsky had disobeyed orders of guards at the Krasnokamensk penal colony [Guardian report], refused to participate in a training program, and is facing 20 more years in prison if convicted on new charges [press release; Bloomberg report] of theft and money laundering.

[JURIST] A New Zealand judge serving on the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia [official website] warned colleagues and prosecutors Monday that its upcoming genocide trials "are so important for the people of Cambodia [that they] must not be tainted by corruption." Silvia Cartwright [profile], a former New Zealand Governor-General, was speaking at the opening of a 5-day meeting of judicial officers of the ECCC [press release] in Phnom Penh. She told her audience that corruption was one of the "major issues" concerning judges on the tribunal as the date of the first scheduled trial approaches. The meeting, which will be closed to the press after Monday, will consider amendments to the trial rules. AP has more.

Outgoing US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli [official profile] said last Monday that the US will begin providing direct financial aid to the ECCC once the tribunal takes adequate measures against corruption [JURIST report]. The court has thusfar received little funding from international donors partly due to allegations of kickbacks and other irregularities [Phnom Penh Post report]. The UN-sponsored court was established to try former Khmer Rouge [BBC backgrounder] leaders accused of committing genocide during the 1970s.