Vladimir Lukin on a pardon for Svetlana Bakhmina

The RF ombudsman for human rights Vladimir Lukin has spoken out in support of a humane resolution to the problem of releasing former Yukos legal specialist Svetlana Bakhmina.

“I can say this: she has the right to petition for a pardon. And considering all the circumstances, which everyone knows very well (that she has two children and, they say, is expecting another), then I, naturally, as ombudsman, am in support of the most humane solution to the problem,” said Lukin on Tuesday at a press conference in Samara.

Lukin noted that he could not comment on Bakhmina’s case. “In order to pass comment on a court case, one must know it in detail. There are court decisions that official persons can hardly dispute,” he said.

(Interfax, 21.10.2008)