“Today at 2.20 pm local time a petition was submitted to the Ingodinsky district court in Chita,” Yury Schmidt told today’s press conference in Moscow

A petition was submitted on behalf of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, “as is permitted by law, seeking his release on parole from the punishment imposed by the verdict of the Meshchansky district court in Moscow.”

Statement by Mikhail Khodorkovsky

Convinced that the court applied an absurd interpretation of the law and the facts for reasons not linked to the exercise of justice, recognising me guilty of crimes that were not committed by myself or by anyone else at any time;

Conscious that I have the right to appeal directly to the President of our country if necessary;

Nevertheless, respecting the existing law and the institution of the judiciary as one of the constitutional foundations of society and the State, I consider it necessary, first and foremost, to use the judicial procedure for asserting all the rights with which the law endows me and the opportunities it affords to ease my present position.

In accordance with the aforesaid, I am applying through my lawyers to the courts for release on parole, since

— I have served more than half of my sentence;

— I have worked conscientiously in the penal colony;

— Although I consider the civil lawsuit wholly without foundation and artificial, I have tried to do everything possible to voluntarily clear the tax arrears with which I was incriminated. The proceeds from the sale of my property was also directed to meet these demands;

— Despite the special, particularly strict conditions in which I am held, and the many false statements, provocations and other infringements of my rights and lawful interests, I have unfailingly observed and continue to observe the demands of the law and the regulations governing prison life.

The sale of all the shares and property I owned in the companies which I directed prevents me from working in my former capacity. At the same time, my 25-year work experience, my successful contributions in various capacities, and my large family serve as guarantees of my ability to adapt to life when I am released.

From the outset there was no necessity for my imprisonment and detention in custody. There is even less need today.

A refusal to recognise the justice of the verdict and a desire to appeal against it do not constitute legal grounds for refusing to grant me parole.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky
16 July 2008