Stefano Duc

Correspondent (Breaking News – Europe)

 

MOSCOW – After ten years spent in a penal colony in Siberia officially for tax evasion, and money laundering (unofficially for funding opposition parties), former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been released today after President Putin signed a pardon decree. This decision was taken on the basis of “principles of humanity”, given the poor health of Khodorkovsky’s mother, the Kremlin announced.

The Russian president’s decision to pardon the ex-tycoon took Russians by surprise, included Khodorkovsky. Indeed, unlike the Kremlin’s announcement, Khodorkovsky affirms that neither him nor his lawyers have presented a demand for clemency as it would be tantamount to admit guilt. However, the Kommersant newspaper, citing anonymous sources, reported that the ex-tycoon did present a demand for clemency, as a third trial against him is to start.

Putin’s pardon granted to Khodorkovsky falls into the Russian president’s strategy to make the country appear more democratic, as February’s Winter Olympic Games in Sochi draw closer.   Indeed, after the recent international criticisms on Russia’s anti-gay propaganda law, and the emprisonment of thirty Greenpeace activists, the Russian parliament approved overwhelmingly an amnesty for at least 20,000 prisoners, among whom the Greenpeace’s activists, and the members of the feminist, punk band Pussy Riots.

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Stefano Duc

Stefano Duc is TGP’s European Breaking News correspondent. Interested in politics, culture and writing, he believes that information can make the difference.

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