Moscow rally calls for her release

Echo Moskvy, 12.11.2008

About one hundred and fifty people gathered at a rally in Moscow on Wednesday, reports Echo Moskvy, demanding the release of former Yukos legal specialist Svetlana Bakhmina.

The rally was organised by the For Rights movement and held on Triumfalnaya Square. The main idea expressed by those taking part was that the majority do not believe that Bakhmina “could simply recall her request for a pardon”. Rights activist Mikhail Kriger told the radio station’s correspondent: “It would be possible to organise a video-link with Svetlana ... so that she could herself state from the screen that she wanted to see no one apart from doctors and family.”

The correspondent noted that the demonstrators with placards urging Bakhmina’s release faced outwards towards passers-by in order to draw their attention to the issue. Certain of those who spoke at the rally were doubtful that Svetlana would be pardoned but “very much hoped they would be wrong in their predictions”.