Russian Business Ombudsman Boris Titov will carry out a public investigation of the second case of jailed former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky which convicted him of embezzlement, Titov’s press service said on Thursday.
Titov said that before he started the examination of the case, Khodorkovsky should send an official request to the Business Against Corruption center, the government-backed body which safeguards the rights of businessmen.
“I suggest you file an official request with the Business Against Corruption center which has dealt for over one and a half years with the complaints by entrepreneurs’ about rights violations of the government,” a statement from Titov’s press service reads.
The ombudsman’s move comes after Khodorkovsky, who is serving his 13-year jail term, asked Titov to carry out a public examination of the verdict.
Titov, appointed by the President Vladimir Putin in June, said soon after he took up his post that he would ask Putin to pardon Khodorkovsky as part of an amnesty for those convicted of economic crimes.
In custody since 2003, Khodorkovsky, who was once Russia’s richest man, was found guilty of embezzlement in December 2010, at a trial widely criticized internationally.
He and fellow defendant Platon Lebedev are not eligible for release until 2016. Khodorkovsky’s two bids for parole have been unsuccessful. The businessman insists he is a victim of a politically-motivated campaign, a claim denied by the Kremlin.