Khodorkovsky to request parole despite Lebedev's abortive plea.

MOSCOW, July 28 (Itar-Tass) -- Former YUKOS oil company CEO Mikhail
Khodorkovsky said he would go ahead with his request for parole despite
his business partner MENATEP financial company CEO Platon Lebedev's fiasco.
"The rejection of Lebedev's petition for parole cannot affect our
decision to file a petition for parole and we will fight for it,"
Khodorkovsky's lawyer Vadim Klyuvgant told Itar-Tass.
He noted that the Velsk court's ruling that denied parole to Lebedev
was not a surprise to him, but showed that "nothing has changed" in the
judicial system.
State Duma Security Committee Deputy Chairman Vladimir Kolesnikov,
too, cautioned against hasty forecasts about Khodorkovsky's petition in
light of Lebedev's failure.
"I made myself very clear and I have not changed my position as far as
these two convicts are concerned," Kolesnikov, who was deputy prosecutor
general when the investigation of tax violations in YUKOS started, said.
"There is the court ruling, I respect it and sincerely hope that it is
fully in line with the relevant laws and bylaws. But I will not change my
position," he added.
Earlier, Kolesnikov supported parole for both Khodorkovsky and Lebedev.