Khodorkovsky, Pussy Riot members may be part of amnesty
Former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky.(RIA Novosti / Andrey Stenin)
Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky may come under the amnesty bill to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution, according to a leading human rights official.
“Yes, I think so,” Mikhail Fedotov, head of the Presidential Council on Civil Society and Human Rights, said when asked by journalists about the prospects of Khodorkovsky’s release.
The members of the Pussy Riot band, who staged a protest in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior, may also be pardoned, he added.
Fedotov made the announcement after a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, who expressed his support for the amnesty bill prepared by the Council on Civil Society and Human Rights.
“I agree with your proposal as a whole. We’ll modify this document together with the deputies of the State Duma, and I’m asking you to actively participate in this process,” Putin said during the meeting.
But the President stressed “the amnesty can only cover the persons who have not committed grave crimes and violent actions against representatives of state authority, I mean law enforcers, first of all.”
Lawyers have interpreted those words in a way that those convicted and tried for participation in the May 2013 riots at Moscow's Bolotnaya Square shouldn’t expect an amnesty.
The members of the Pussy Riot band, who staged a protest in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior, may also be pardoned, he added.
Fedotov made the announcement after a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, who expressed his support for the amnesty bill prepared by the Council on Civil Society and Human Rights.
“I agree with your proposal as a whole. We’ll modify this document together with the deputies of the State Duma, and I’m asking you to actively participate in this process,” Putin said during the meeting.
But the President stressed “the amnesty can only cover the persons who have not committed grave crimes and violent actions against representatives of state authority, I mean law enforcers, first of all.”
Lawyers have interpreted those words in a way that those convicted and tried for participation in the May 2013 riots at Moscow's Bolotnaya Square shouldn’t expect an amnesty.
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