BERLIN, January 25 (RIA Novosti) – A son of jailed ex-Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky said on Thursday he would like to return to Russia, but will not do this while his father is serving a sentence.
“I believe that I am more useful regarding the case of my father while I am abroad. I have possibilities there [abroad] to talk to media, politicians and ask for the support of my father,” Pavel Khodorkovsky, who currently lives in the United States, said.
He said it was his father, who advised him against returning to Russia, but he wants to come back as he misses his friends and family.
Pavel Khodorkovsky attended on Thursday night in Berlin a presentation of a German edition of his father’s book “Prison and Freedom.” The book, written by Mikhail Khodorkovsky together with journalist Natalia Gevorkyan, was released last September.
In 2005, Khodorkovsky, once the richest man in Russia, and his business partner Platon Lebedev were sentenced to eight years in prison on fraud and tax evasion charges. In 2010, a Moscow district court convicted them on similar charges in a case widely seen by the Kremlin’s critics as politically motivated.
After the second conviction, the two were due to remain in prison until 2017. In a 2011 appeal, a Moscow City Court reduced their sentences by one year. Earlier this month the same court reduced their sentences by another 18 months, which will allow them walk free in 2014.