Khodorkovsky statement concerning Svetlana Bakhmina

Statement by Mikhail Khodorkovsky

I would like to make the following statement concerning the situation surrounding the release of Yukos lawyer Svetlana Bakhmina, who is now in the prison hospital in the eighth month of pregnancy.

After I became acquainted, as part of the preliminary investigation in 2007, with the sentence imposed on Svetlana Bakhmina I repeatedly declared to the members of the team of investigators that the actions of which she was accused (transfer of servicing equipment from Yukos subsidiaries to specialised property and servicing firms of our company) were carried out in accordance with a decision taken by the corresponding administrative bodies within Yukos.

I know this as the director of the company. The orders and decisions were signed with my agreement.

As an employee Svetlana Bakhmina was obliged to carry out these decisions. I’d like to add that these facts were certainly known to the investigators without my declarations, but concealed from the court for “tactical reasons”.

I consider that ordinary decency and generally accepted notions of honour require representatives of the Prosecutor General's office to support the request for the release of a pregnant woman, the mother of two under-age children, who found herself in prison for those “tactical reasons”.