LONDON (Reuters) – Mikhail Khodorkovsky, often described as Russia’s most famous prisoner, believes he will remain in jail as long as Vladimir Putin is holding Russia’s reins, his mother said in an interview.
In London to attend the UK premiere of a symphony dedicated to the former oil tycoon, she accused Putin, the Russian prime minister, of trying to block her son’s release.
“Mr Putin, I think, the idea of his life is to keep him in jail forever,” said Marina Khodorkovskaya, 75. “As long as Putin is in power, it (release) will not happen — unless the West, its leading nations, finds ways of influencing Putin.”
She was speaking outside London’s Royal Albert Hall where a symphony by Estonian composer Arvo Part, who was persecuted in Soviet times for his avant-garde style, was performed on Friday.
Already serving an eight-year sentence, Khodorkovsky now faces an additional 22 years in prison in a trial which began last year. He was jailed in 2003 and convicted in 2005 of fraud and tax evasion when Putin was still president.
Critics of Putin, now prime minister but still Russia’s paramount leader, say the new charges were trumped up to keep Khodorkovsky in prison beyond a 2012 election in which Putin has not ruled out a return to the presidency.
The Kremlin says the trial is in line with Russian law and part of a campaign to root out corruption in the economy.
Khodorkovsky once controlled an empire producing more oil than OPEC member Qatar. He made his fortune by buying state assets cheaply and trading commodities after the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union.
Khodorkovskaya, grey-haired and wearing a white jacket, said she doubted Putin’s successor Dmitry Medvedev would follow through on his promises to liberalise Russia and its judiciary.
“I have no hope there will be any loosening-up under the current government of our country,” she said.
At the concert, part of this year’s BBC Proms season, an atmosphere of pessimism appeared to be the main theme of the symphony, its haunting lyricism punctuated by what sounded like the deep bell toll of Russian Orthodox churches.
Part, a minimalist composer, said he dedicated the piece to Khodorkovsky because he was disturbed by the trial. Part left the Soviet Union in 1980 but later returned to Estonia, now part of the European Union.
“It pains me to realise that the price being paid by Khodorkovsky could turn out to be too high: it may end up costing him his life,” he said in a statement after the concert.
