Released Putin critic arrives in Berlin
Print Edition
Former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who has been pardoned by Russian President Vladimir Putin, arrived in Berlin after his release from a Russian jail yesterday, the German foreign ministry said.
“I can confirm that Mikhail Khodorkovsky landed in Berlin Schoenefeld (airport) today,” a ministry spokesman said.
Russian prison officials said Khodorkovsky had petitioned to be allowed to leave the country to meet his mother who is undergoing medical treatment in Germany.
Khodorkovsky spent 10 years in prison on charges of tax evasion and embezzlement. He was freed a day after Putin unexpectedly announced he would release one of his most powerful critics.
“He has left the camp. That’s all I can say,” Khodorkovsky’s lawyer Vadim Klyuvgant said.
Putin surprised Russians and cheered the business community by announcing he would free the 50-year-old businessman because his mother was ill. In a presidential decree signed yesterday, Putin said he was “guided by the principles of humanity.”
Putin said after a four-hour, end-of-year news conference on Thursday that Khodorkovsky asked for clemency. This took his lawyers by surprise, and they said they were checking with their client.
He was scheduled for release next August.
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