Translated material
Putin: We have no political prisoners
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin does not plan to declare an amnesty for political prisoners, since in Russia there are no people "sitting for political reasons." As RIA Novosti reports, he stated this at a meeting with political scientists. "I do not really understand what is understood by the political amnesty. We, in my opinion, do not have political prisoners, and thank God. Although they talk about this without naming surnames. At least they showed at least one person who is sitting for political reasons," Putin said. “To conduct a criminal amnesty and so on, I don’t know, in a timely manner? Do you need to do it now? It is necessary to improve the situation in the penitentiary system, in prisons, to think about the humanization of our legislation. At some moments, you can probably spend an amnesty, but a large-scale amnesty is now?” - said Putin.
The release of political prisoners was one of the points of the resolution of the rallies "for honest elections." Speaking at a rally on Bolotnaya Square on February 4, journalist Olga Romanova said that the organizing committee of the rally compiled a list of political prisoners. She also announced her intention to transfer this list to the presidential administration in order to demand an amnesty for them. "We agreed on the list with the Fund for Protection of the Political Personents. We will take this list to the Kremlin, the list of political prisoners. Police, we need a short way to the Kremlin. I think we are waiting for us. Prison is a place for criminals, for those who are now stealing," Romanova said.
On December 15, Putin promised to consider the mercy of the ex-head of the Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky, if he became president, and the disgraced entrepreneur will write the corresponding petition. “If he writes this appeal, then I will consider this petition, but first I need to become president,” Putin said, answering questions from journalists after a direct line.
Earlier on Thursday, the entrepreneur Mikhail Prokhorov promised to pardon Khodorkovsky, who was nominated to the presidency. "The first decision I will make a humanistic - I will have mercy on Khodorkovsky," Prokhorov said. Earlier, Prokhorov called the situation around the parole of Khodorkovsky and his colleague Platon Lebedev "ugliness". "I specifically studied the procedure together with lawyers, and I believe that there are no grounds for non -association of parole Khodorkovsky and Lebedev," Prokhorov said.
In September last year, Vladimir Putin accused Khodorkovsky of murders. He made such a statement after a meeting with the participants in the Valdai discussion club. Answering the questions of journalists, Putin again stated that he would not interfere in the case of the ex-head of the Yukos. “This is a judicial case, I will not intervene, but this person has blood on his hands,” Polish journalist Adam Mikhnik quoted Putin. He noted that Putin, speaking of the "Khodorkovsky case", demonstrated "personal emotion." The prime minister answered other questions in a calm tone and joked, but on this issue, according to the journalist, Putin’s intonation changed dramatically.
In December last year, during a direct line, Putin said that Khodorkovsky’s fault was proved in court. “I, like the famous character of Vladimir Vysotsky, think that the thief should be in prison,” the prime minister said.
A year ago, the Khamovnican court sentenced Khodorkovsky and his former colleague Platon Lebedev by 13.5 years in prison, finding them guilty of theft of oil and laundering of the company's revenue. Since they did not leave for six months of punishment by the first sentence, the court finally sentenced them to the age of 14. On May 24, the Moscow City Court softened their punishment for one year.
In the summer, the court rejected Lebedev’s petition for parole. Meanwhile, penalties that prevent UDO were imposed on Khodorkovsky in the colony. The defense failed to protest these penalties in court. Khodorkovsky and Lebedev are not going to submit petitions about pardon.
President Medvedev in July said in an interview with The Financial Times that the liberation of Khodorkovsky is not dangerous for society. He explained that the ex-head of “Yukos” has the right to parole and the right to pardon. Earlier, Medvedev stated that the pardon procedure involves a plead of guilt and the presentation of the convict himself. “A person must turn to the president, find himself guilty of committing a crime and ask for a corresponding decision,” Medvedev explained. Meanwhile, human rights activists argue that the head of state can enjoy the right of pardon without pleading guilt by the convict.
In January of this year, writer Boris Akunin called on cultural figures to seek the pardon of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev.
Khodorkovsky is serving a sentence in the colony of the city of Segezha in Karelia, Lebedev in the Arkhangelsk region.
