Behind Bars, Khodorkovsky Makes Bid For Freedom
NPR profiles Mikhail Khodorkovsky, noting that many observers say he's a victim and a symbol of everything wrong in Russia.
NPR questions the real reason for his arrest, explaining that Khodorkovsky has insisted that he is innocent and the target of Russia's political elite. In response to written questions posed by NPR, he said: "You have to see Russia beyond the window dressing, the Russia where a political opponent can be sent to prison for many years and his property taken from him...You have to see Russia as a country where society views this with indifference, where the elite keeps silent."
NPR notes that now, seven years since his arrest, Khodorkovsky's ultimate fate remains a mystery, as does so much in Russia's Kafkaesque legal system. It is never clear whether a defendant was on the wrong side of the law - or, someone else. Critics of the trial see the charges as vague at best, and they say Khodorkovsky's experience is the proof that Russia's legal system is corrupt.
Khodorkovsky's mistake was becoming too dangerous in the eyes of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Observers like political analyst Masha Lipman believe Putin will ultimately guide the legal process and decide what happens to Khodorkovsky.
In his writings, Khodorkovsky has called for a Russia free of corruption, with a transparent legal system. NPR notes that Khodorkovsky has developed a message, and he's capturing attention from inside prison in a way he never did as a free man.