Through the pages of Novaya gazeta Mikhail Khodorkovsky greets his parents on their golden wedding anniversary

From Mikhail Khodorkovsky:

We don’t celebrate golden weddings, 50 years together, so often. In Russia we don’t live that long and, regrettably, it’s an ever less frequent occurrence that people remain true to one another.

However, 9 October marks a second golden wedding in my family, that of my father and mother, and a cause for joy. My grandfathers fought in the Civil War, the Finnish War and the Great Patriotic War and their wives all awaited their return.

Honour and faithfulness have become a family tradition, continued by my parents. They have spent a long and not very easy life together at the Calibri factory. Now I am trying to follow that tradition of honour and faithfulness and hand it down to my own children.

A long life to you, my dear ones!

Your son.

(Passed to Novaya gazeta from the pre-trial remand centre in Chita)