Dear Inna,

My name is Olga, and my husband shared a cell with Mikhail in Matrosskaya Tishina for two months.

I’m writing to you because I can identify with everything that’s going on round you and your family. I know exactly what it feels like. I also know rather well the feeling of utter impotence when confronting an enormous machine which casually gulps people down whenever it wants to.

Thanks to my husband, the once-mythical Khodorkovsky has become utterly real and human. I’m happy to say - and I’ve rarely been wrong in my intuitions - that big politics and big money cannot obliterate him.

It was rather comforting for me to know that my husband was sharing a cell with Mikhail. I felt happy for both of them. Dmitry is a doctor and could always lend a hand if necessary, while the presence of Mikhail meant daily newspapers, sufficient food and - something much more important - an intelligent companion you could learn a lot from. ‘Crystal clear thinking’, wrote Dmitry in one of his letters - a description that says a lot for someone who’s already been in prison for two years. Dmitry considered communication with Mikhail a gift from God. They talked a lot about politics, economics, philosophy and religion.

But Mikhail is not only a talented and shrewd businessman. He also has a great deal of humility, strength and tolerance. Dmitry told me that when Mikhail went on hunger-strike over Platon’s punishment, his cell-mates only learnt about it from the TV news.

I’m very much concerned about Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s future. For all I can see is the public execution of someone who doesn’t deserve it one bit - though I don’t know whether the path to it was chosen by him deliberately. Still, I sincerely wish him good luck.

Don’t give in to despair! Struggle on to the bitter end! I have no doubt the world community represented by the European Court will put an end to your suffering. Best regards to Mikhail from Dmitry! As soon as he has a chance, he’ll write!

Yours sincerely, Olga

P.S: Our little son is named for Mikhail