MOSCOW, August 31 - RAPSI. Former YUKOS head Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison, has been reprimanded twice in August, Khodorkovskys attorney Vadim Klyuvgant told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI).

Khodorkovsky is serving his second sentence in a colony near the town of Segezha in Karelia.

The former oil tycoon was disciplined for giving cigarettes to a fellow prisoner and for avoiding work, Klyuvgant said.

According to his lawyers, Khodorkovsky may be denied parole due to these incidents.

The YUKOS case has been one of the most high profile cases in Russia in recent years. In the early 2000s, the authorities accused the executives of YUKOS, then the countrys largest oil company, of economic offenses. YUKOS consequently went bankrupt and its assets were transferred to Rosneft. Many in the West believe the case against YUKOS was politically driven, but Moscow flatly denies the charges.

In 2005, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were sentenced to eight years in prison for fraud and tax evasion. In late 2010, a Moscow district court sentenced them to 14 years in prison for oil theft and money laundering. However, on May 24, the Moscow City Court reduced their sentences by one year. Taking into account the time Khodorkovsky and Lebedev had already served for their convictions from their first trial in 2005, they now may be released in 2016.