The following op/ed about Vasily Alexanyan (or Alexanian, Aleksanyan if you prefer), was translated from Monday’s Vedomosti. The author argues that even under Joseph Stalin, the Russian government at least provided medical care to sick zeks.

Man of the week: Heal thyself Kirill Kharatyan 21.01.2008, №9 (2031) Former lawyer, former head of the YUKOS legal department, former executive president of YUKOS with the powers of president, a former wealthy, educated, and, they say, sharp-witted person; now – a gaunt, nearly blind inmate, suffering concurrently from two fatal diseases, who thinks only about whether or not he’ll live to see the day of his trial. Such a fate has befallen Vasily Alexanyan. For what, one asks? Ah, for taxes, that is for complicity in an oil company.