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gazeta.ru, October 28, 2003

Khodorkovsky's arrest splits politicians

By Yelena Shishkunova

Mikhail Khodorkovsky's arrest has split Russian politicians into three camps. The first camp includes the Union of Right-Wing Forces and Yabloko who have denounced the Prosecutor General's Office's actions against the YUKOS CEO as unlawful. Those in the second camp, mostly pro-Kremlin centrists, on the contrary, back the prosecutors. The leftists, meanwhile, either refuse to comment on the latest developments in the YUKOS-case altogether, or say that Khodorkovsky is suffering for his political ambitions.

On Monday morning the leader of the Union of Right-Wing Forces, Boris Nemtsov, sent a letter to the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, in which he vouched for YUKOS head Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

"If Mikhail Khodorkovsky is released in exchange for a promise not to leave Moscow, he will observe all the norms of the Criminal Procedural Code and will come to the prosecutor's office for further investigative actions," Nemtsov quoted from his letter. "Khodorkovsky poses no threat to people's lives or to their safety, and is not going to leave the country," Nemtsov said.

President Vladimir Putin told business leaders and politicians on Monday that he would not meet them to discuss the arrest of oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky as, it had been ordered by an independent court. "There will be no meetings and no bargaining over the activities of the law enforcement agencies as long as, of course, these agencies are acting within the framework of the Russian law," Putin told members of the government.

Boris Nemtsov refused to comment on Vladimir Putin's refusal to interfere in the crisis. Commenting on the YUKOS CEO's detention, he said: "I believe that Khodorkovsky's arrest before trial is an act aimed against the economic interests of the country."

"If the president agrees to discuss only the unlawful actions of law enforcement agencies, there is plenty to discuss," State Duma deputy and member of Yabloko faction Alexei Melnikov told Gazeta.Ru. He named the following areas as examples. "Searches in the offices of defence lawyers, of State Duma deputies, the Prosecutor General's Office's attempts to summon a priest for questioning, the arrival of FSB officers at a school where Khodorkovsky's daughter studies, and their attempts to carry out some odd actions there, the use of psychotropic substances on Pichugin in Lefortovo prison, the prosecutors' refusal to answer deputy enquiries concerning YUKOS-related cases and the unlawful arrest of Khodorkovsky."

The leader of the centrist People's Party, Gennady Raikov, is convinced that "one should share with society". "The People's Party entirely supports the actions of law enforcers in the detention of the head of the oil company YUKOS, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The Prosecutor General's Office has brought serious charges against the oligarch, including, tax evasion. We do not fear that an investigation into the affairs of one oligarch might cast doubt on the reforms of the 1990s. All civic-oriented political parties must come to the defence of the interests of the people, the state, and the president from the impertinent oligarchs," holds Raikov.

Sergei Mironov, Chairman of the Federation Council, shares Raikov's opinion. "Law enforcement agencies have questions, and now they have a chance to ask those questions," he said.

Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, who has two candidates linked with YUKOS running on his party ticket in December's parliamentary election, said Khodorkovsky "was turned into an enemy the minute he spoke up about his political intentions."

Zyuganov's former ally, leader of the newly established patriotic bloc Rodina (Motherland) Sergei Glazyev, refused to comment on Khodorkovsky's arrest. His aide told Gazeta.Ru that Glazayev "does not publicly express his opinion on the YUKOS case or on Khodorkovsky's arrest". He would not elaborate.

 

See also:

YUKOS case

gazeta.ru, October 28, 2003

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