Source: HRO.org (info), 13/04/12

· Ombudsmen  · Yukos case

Federal human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin believes that Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former co-owner of the Yukos oil company, should be released as soon as possible.

According to Radio Liberty, in an interview with a television station in Tomsk while on a visit to that city, Vladimir Lukin said that the verdict in the so-called ‘second Yukos case’, under which Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev were sentenced to 13 years in prison, was ‘wrong’ and ‘not serious’. Lukin made clear that Khodorkovsky should be released on parole and expressed the view that the sooner he is released, the better it would be for the country.

Lukin refused to say whether he considers Khodorkovsky to be a political prisoner.