Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov has joined the call for the release of former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Yekaterinburg, 23 May: Boris Nemtsov, who has left all the posts in the SPS [Union of Right Forces], has spoken out in support of Russian rights activists, who have called on the leadership of the country to pardon 15 citizens, among whom is the former head of the Yukos oil company, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

"First of all Khodorkovsky has already served five years. He was detained on 25 October 2003 - I will not forget this day. Even from the point of the Criminal Proceedings Code he could come under amnesty, conditional early release and so on," Nemtsov announced at a news conference in Yekaterinburg on Friday [23 May].

"The complaints (about violations of the detention regime - Interfax) which are being made against him (Khdorkovsky - Interfax) - that he did not put his hands behind his back on time or that he drank tea in an incorrect place - are absolutely comical," Nemtsov added.

Along with this, he expressed the doubt that it was possible to grant amnesty to Khodorkovsky, recalling that at present another criminal case against him is being investigated.

At the beginning of this week Russian rights activists called on the leadership of the country to pardon 15 citizens, among whom is Mikhail Khodorkovsky and scientists sentenced to various prison terms for espionage.

(Interfax, 23.05.2008)