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Main page > Comments > Politics > A special role prepared for Khodorkovsky in 2008 campaign games
A special role prepared for Khodorkovsky in 2008 campaign games
The authorities have suddenly agreed to bring back Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, his colleague in business and imprisonment, from Chita to Moscow. Analysts predict that Khodorkovsky will be used as a pawn in the presidential election campaign.
The authorities have suddenly agreed to bring back Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, his colleague in business and imprisonment, from Chita to Moscow. What's more, this move has been initiated by the very same Basmannyi Court that was so persistent in ensuring that Khodorkovsky and Lebedev would be in jail as far from Moscow as possible and for as long as possible. Lawyers acting for Khodorkovsky and Lebedev fought long and hard to get their clients transferred out of a jail in remote Chita, Siberia. They submitted appeal after appeal, for months on end, and had grown accustomed to rejection.
Khodorkovsky was transferred to Chita in December 2006, but it soon became clear that the oligarch wouldn't be allowed to serve out his eight years and go free; further criminal charges were issued against him.
Konstantin Simonov, president of the Center for Current Politics in Russia: "There's no such thing as a random decision in the Khodorkovsky case. If he's being transferred to Moscow, that means the Kremlin wants him here and nowhere else. Most likely, the authorities will try to use him to provoke the opposition into making some particular moves. Protest rallies will start as soon as he returns to Moscow. And Khodorkovsky himself wouldn't even need to do anything - all his supporters need is the knowledge that he's in jail right here. If Mikhail Kasyanov can draw crowds to the Dissenter Marches, what might Khodorkovsky's name be capable of? The authorities have a simple plan: scaring the people with the prospect of an 'Orange revolution threat' and using this as a pretext to tighten the screws ahead of the presidential election. Claims that this is 'a dangerous moment for Russia' could be used as a cover for 'persuading' the incumbent to stay on for a third term, or to portray his designated successor as a savior of the nation."
Source: "Sobesednik", No 17, April 25, 2007
Translated by Elena Leonova
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