BERLIN, December 30 (RIA Novosti) – Former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been granted a three-month visa to Switzerland, the Swiss Embassy in Berlin said Monday.
Khodorkovsky, who has been staying in Germany since his release from a Russian jail on December 20, applied for a Swiss visa last week. His wife, Inna, and his two sons are residing in Switzerland, which is part of the 26-nation Schengen free-travel zone in Europe.
“Switzerland has granted the request of Mikhail Khodorkovsky for a Schengen visa. The visa allows a three-month stay in the Schengen area,” a spokesperson for the Swiss Embassy told reporters without providing further details.
Germany, another Schengen state, had earlier granted Khodorkovsky a one-year visa allowing him to stay in that country.
Khodorkovsky, former head of the dismantled oil giant Yukos, was freed by a presidential pardon after serving more than a decade in prison following his arrest on a Siberian runway in 2003 and two subsequent convictions for fraud, tax evasion and embezzlement.
Russia’s Supreme Court last Wednesday ordered a review of past cases against Khodorkovsky citing an earlier ruling by the European Court of Human Rights as a basis to renew legal proceeding in the case.
The European court ordered Russia in July to pay Khodorkovsky $13,200 in damages for numerous violations of his rights during the high-profile trial.
Earlier this year, Khodorkovsky, 50, said he would not go in for politics and would not fight for the return of Yukos assets.
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