Vladimir Putin to pardon Mikhail Khodorkovsky
Mikhail Khodorkovsky has signed a clemency appeal and is soon to be pardoned, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a news conference on December 19.
According to Putin, an edict to pardon Khodorkovsky will be signed soon, lenta.ru reports.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky was arrested in 2003, when he was one of the richest men on the planet. In 2005, Khodorkovsky was sentenced for fraud and other crimes to eight years in prison. In 2010-2011 he was charged with new offences and sentenced under new circumstances.
Amnesty International considers Khodorkovsky and his business colleague Platon Lebedev as prisoners of conscience.
Khodorkovsky was supposed to be released on August 25, 2014. However, the Russian law-enforcement authorities stated a couple of weeks ago that several new criminal cases might be started against him.
File photo by expert.ru
