GERMANY: Mikhail Khodorkovsky arrives in Germany after release from Russian prison

Record ID: 644487

  • Title: GERMANY: Mikhail Khodorkovsky arrives in Germany after release from Russian prison
  • Date: 20th December 2013
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (DECEMBER 20, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF SCHOENEFELD AIRPORT
  • Embargoed: 4th January 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA7HUVK5F8QCUETLSZ34U1VEF7H
  • Story Text: Former oil tycoon and Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky arrived in Berlin on Friday (December 20), hours after his surprise release from jail under a pardon from President Vladimir Putin.
    Khodorkovsky's plane touched down at Schoenefeld airport's on Friday afternoon, Germany's Foreign Office said.
    A car believed to be carrying the former tycoon then travelled in a police convoy to the centre of Berlin, a Reuters witness said.
    Khodorkovsky's mother Marina told Reuters she was still waiting in Moscow for news of her son and was ready to fly anywhere to meet him, if need be. She has been receiving medical treatment in Germany.
    Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, left prison on Friday after a pardon from Putin ended a decade in jail that many saw as the fallen oil tycoon's punishment for daring to challenge the Kremlin.
    Khodorkovsky was freed a day after Putin unexpectedly announced he would release one of his most powerful critics. A government source said the move could deflect criticism over Putin's human rights record as Russia prepares to host the Winter Olympics in February.
    Putin surprised Russians and cheered the business community by announcing he would free the 50-year-old businessman because his mother was ill. Investors said it could ease entrepreneurs' fears of the Kremlin exploiting the courts for political ends.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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