Mikhail Khodorkovsky, formerly the richest businessman of the country and currently a convict of Matrosskaya Tishina Penitentiary, will not be able to run for the State Duma. Yesterday his sentence – 8 years of imprisonment, finally took effect. However, the election story added Khodorkovsky some political points, as his followers believe.
Election without Khodorkovsky
The decision of the appeal commission deprived Khodorkovsky of the right to run the by-election to the State Duma from the 201st University District of Moscow. Khodorkovsky announced his intension to run the race on August 31 and even Chairman of the Central Election Committee Alexander Veshnyakov confirmed that the Constitution gave the entrepreneur the right to do so until the verdict took legal effect.
The Moscow Court made haste. Khodorkovsky’s and Lebedev’s defenders were notified on August 26, setting the date of the appeal reading to September 24, although the attorneys asked for more time to prepare. When the only attorney chosen for this event – Padva, came down, the Moscow City Court tried to impose other lawyers to Khodorkovsky. Judges did not drag out the reading itself too and yesterday Khodorkovsky lost the right to run the election.
Now, the initiative group backing Khodorkovsky nomination is preparing to nominate another candidate for the University District, as a source in the group informed. However, its chief Ivan Starikov refuted that the new candidate will be Mikhail Kasyanov. ‘We negotiated with his HQ, however, the representatives of the former premier made it clear that the prize from the participation was not worth a try, while the risk of starting a career with a loss – great’ – explained he. Founder of the Institute for National Strategy Stanislav Belkovsky forecasts that the new candidate from opposition will be ‘not a direct continuator of Khodorkovsky line, but someone, who he might support from the information standpoint’.
As for the political prospects of the convicted oligarch, they did not suffer, political scientists believe. ‘The sentence of the appeal commission saved Khodorkovsky as a politician. If he lost the race, it would be impossible to think of Khodorkovsky as a politician in the future, - believes Director General of the Center for Current Politics in Russia Konstantin Simonov. – He was in time to claim himself a politician. [During the sentence] he will remain the symbol of the ‘orange’ revolution in Russia, a political publicist and moral authority for the opposition’.
Published: Vedomosti, 23.09.2005
