Mikhail Khodorkovsky likely to be pardoned already this year

The president of Russia said after today's press conference that was held at the International Trade Center in Moscow that he was going to pardon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Khodorkovsky wrote a petition for pardon, and it would soon be signed, Putin said.

"He has spent more than ten years in prison, which is a serious term, and I believe that one should make a decision. I've already said before that Mikhail Khodorkovsky was supposed, in accordance with the law, to write an adequate document. He had not done that before, but he has written the paper recently and addressed to me with a petition for clemency."

According to the president, the convicted oligarch refers to obstacles of humanitarian character. "His mother is sick, and I believe that one can make a decision, and the decree to pardon him will be signed in the nearest future," Putin said.

President's press secretary Dmitry Peskov believes that the clemency petition that Mikhail Khodorkovsky filed to the head of state implied recognition of his guilt.

Secretary of the General Council of United Russia, Sergei Neverov, said the clemency petition negated the myth of the political background of the case.

He also believes that Khodorkovsky pleaded guilty by submitting the petition.

A professor of the International Independent Ecological and Political University, Sergey Chernyakhovsky, said in an interview with Pravda.Ru that the clemency petition was a step that demonstrated Mikhail Khodorkovsky's adequate behavior. 

"This is a reasonable step, indicating the adequacy of Khodorkovsky. Yet, it is also a promise not to conduct certain type of activity in the future - not to do certain things. We will see how honest he can be," the professor said.