VENICE, Italy (AP) The reputed Russian mobster who allegedly helped fix two figure skating results at the Salt Lake City Olympics began a closed-door hearing Tuesday in a Venice prison where he is held on U.S. and Italian charges.

Under Italian law, within a few days of being arrested, a suspect must appear before a judge, who decides whether to validate the charges on the warrant.

Tuesday's hearing was expected to last a few hours.

Italian police arrested Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov on July 31 in Venice, on charges of criminal association, fraud and corruption.

A U.S. criminal complaint, filed in Manhattan federal court, accuses him of scheming to fix the results of the pairs and ice dancing competitions at the Winter Olympics this past February.

The Italian police have released excerpts of wiretapped conversations they say indicate Tokhtakhounov was involved in fixing the events. They say he might have contacted up to six judges to help secure a gold medal for the Russians in the pairs competition in exchange for a victory by the French ice dancing team. Both teams won.

U.S. authorities are seeking his extradition.

Judge Giannicolo Rodighiero, assigned to Venice's criminal court, was driven by motorboat to canalside Santa Maria Maggiore Prison in the lagoon city. He refused to answer reporters' questions as he entered the prison.

Defense lawyer Luca Saldarelli entered the prison with a stack of Russian newspaper clippings under his arm. He asked prison authorities if he could give the clips to Tokhtakhounov and was granted permission.

The lawyer told reporters he would brief them on the hearing after it was over.

It was not immediately clear if the suspect would formally say at the hearing if he would fight extradition, a process which could take weeks.

Last week, Saldarelli said the Russian, who has said he was innocent and called the case a farce, had indicated he would fight being sent to the United States.

Tokhtakhounov has been living in Italy, with a villa in a Tuscan seaside resort, for the last couple of years.

On Monday, French Olympic ice dance champion Marina Anissina acknowledged she had talked "from time to time" with Tokhtakhounov, who is accused of fixing the win by her and partner Gwendal Peirzerat.

But she insisted that knowing him had nothing to do with her gold medal.

The French couple, along with the Russian pairs champions, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, spoke at a news conference in Arles, France, to defend themselves against accusations contained in a U.S. criminal complaint that their figure skating competitions were fixed.

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