I have written a piece on the Guardian’s Commentisfree (CiF) site criticising the Russian state’s treatment of Vasily Alexanyan, a former executive of the oil giant, Yukos.

Alexanyan may or may not be a pawn of the oligarchs who profited from Boris Yeltsin’s economic upheaval, but he is a prisoner in pretrial detention in Moscow. He has Aids and he has been refused medical treatment unless he gives evidence against his former employer Mikhail Khordokovsky. Evidence Alexanyan says he does not have.