MOSCOW, December 22 (RIA Novosti) – Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man, told Russian media that a former German foreign minister proposed he write a formal request to be released from prison.
Khodorkovsky, who quickly flew to Germany upon being freed after a decade behind bars, told the Dozhd television channel that Germany’s former top diplomat, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, told him to write the request citing family issues but without acknowledging guilt.
Genscher, who reportedly helped arrange Khodorkovsky’s flight to Germany, was shown in photographs meeting the former oil baron at the airport upon his arrival.
Khodorkovsky, jailed in 2003 on tax evasion and fraud charges that supporters have denounced as retaliation from the Kremlin for his political ambitions, was released on Friday by presidential pardon.
