MOSCOW, December 20 (RIA Novosti) – Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, one of Russia’s most famous prisoners, could walk free from jail immediately after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree pardoning him on humanitarian grounds Friday, the Kremlin said.
“The decree comes into force from the day of its signing,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
Khodorkovsky's lawyers, who appeared to be stunned by the news of Putin's decision to pardon their client when it was announced Thursday, said Khodorkovsky could be freed as soon as today.
"Such a decree should be carried out immediately," said lawyer Vadim Klyuvgant.
Khodorkovsky is currently incarcerated in a penal colony in the northern region of Karelia, near Russia's border with Finland.
The decision to release Khodorkovsky, widely considered one of Putin's chief political adversaries, was announced by Putin after he finished a four-hour press conference Thursday.
“[Khodorkovsky] cites humanitarian reasons,” Putin told reporters. “In line with the law, Mikhail Borisovich [Khodorkovsky] should have signed the necessary document [requesting a pardon], which he didn’t do. But just recently he signed this document, and addressed me with an appeal for clemency,” he said.
Putin said Khodorkovsky had already spent 10 years in jail for a serious crime and that, considering his mother’s illness, he would sign off on the pardon.
“The order for the pardon will be issued and the person will be freed,” he said Thursday.
Khodorkovsky, 50, was due for release next year after spending more than 10 years in jail following his arrest on a Siberian runway in 2003 and two subsequent convictions for fraud, tax evasion and embezzlement.
Once Russia's richest man, Khodorkovsky became actively involved in funding Russia's opposition in the early 2000s. He has always maintained his innocence, and claimed that his imprisonment was politically motivated.
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