Russia declares Khodorkovsky arrested in absentia

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Russia declares Khodorkovsky arrested in absentia

MOSCOW (AP) Russia's top investigative body on Wednesday declared Mikhail Khodorkovsky as arrested in absentia, two years after the Kremlin critic and former oil tycoon was pardoned after serving 10 years in prison.

Investigators earlier this month accused the former billionaire of involvement in the 1998 murder of a Siberian mayor. On Tuesday, Russian officials searched the residences of several employees of his Open Russia foundation in connection with a probe into a privatization deal.

Khodorkovsky, 52, spent 10 years in prison on tax evasion and embezzlement charges widely seen as punishment for challenging President Vladimir Putin's power. His oil company, once Russia's largest, was dismantled and sold off to state-owned firms.

The Investigative Committee on Wednesday announced his arrest in absentia and called for an international manhunt.

Vladimir Markin, spokesman for the committee, said in a statement that Russia will take "all the legal means" at its disposal to hunt down Khodorkovsky "no matter where the person accused of grave crimes is hiding: in Russia, abroad, or even in the Antarctic."

A spokeswoman for Khodorkovsky, Maria Logan, said he now is based in London and was unlikely to turn himself in.

President Putin's decision to pardon Khodorkovsky just a few months before he was due for release was seen as a goodwill gesture on the eve of Russia's Winter Games in Sochi in 2014.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov has insisted that the president did not have the information about Khodorkovsky's alleged involvement in the 1998 when he pardoned him in December 2013.

Peskov also said that the decision to re-launch the probe and put Khodorkovsky on the wanted list was made by the investigators and that Putin was not involved in it.

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-12-24

[asdecas]

One is curious to understand how a person can be arrested without being physically present, i.e. in absentia.

[Seastallion]

One is curious to understand how a person can be arrested without being physically present, i.e. in absentia.

Yes, one is. My first thought.

Convicted in absentia, I can understand, but arrested, I can't.

Perhaps it's an error in translation thing. We think of arrested as apprehended. In Russia, it may mean something connoting deemed suspicious or guilty enough to be apprehended on sight.

[spidermike007]

King Vlad the Impaler, is at it again. Anyone, and i do mean anyone, who criticizes this clown, gets the public enemy number one treatment. He reminds me of L. Ron Hubbard, in the vicious nature of his tactics, against his detractors. He is a tiny, insecure man, who cannot handle being labeled exactly what he is. Keep my nature a secret please. Or else.

[craigt3365]

Methinks there's more to this than meets the eye:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-khodorkovsky-arrest-idUSKBN0U60PO20151223

The move came a day after armed police raided the Moscow offices of a pro-democracy movement founded by Khodorkovsky, one of President Vladimir Putin's most outspoken critics.

Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, was pardoned by Putin in 2013 and freed after a decade in jail on fraud charges he says were politically motivated. He has angered the Kremlin in recent months with critical statements.

He accused Putin in November of leading Russia into a 1970s Soviet-style period of stagnation that could eventually trigger the country's collapse. Earlier this month he said a peaceful revolution was "inevitable"

The murder was solved that same year, 1998, and the presumed perpetrators were arrested. (But) for some reason, they were then freed and were subsequently killed," he said.

[kartman]

Now every time he picks up a drink "is it or isn't it"

[sanukjim]

One is curious to understand how a person can be arrested without being physically present, i.e. in absentia.

I guess that they send him a set of handcuffs with instructions on when he to use them. haha

[Langsuan Man]

If convicted I wonder if he get's to serve his sentence in absentia

[Chicog]

Khodorkovsky was part of the rape of Russia's wealth.

He knows where the bodies are buried.

I hope he has left a large brown envelope of information to be sent to a reputable source in the event of his untimely death.

[Seastallion]

Khodorkovsky was part of the rape of Russia's wealth.

He knows where the bodies are buried.

I hope he has left a large brown envelope of information to be sent to a reputable source in the event of his untimely death.

I hope he has left a large brown envelope of information to be sent to a reputable source in the event of his INEVITABLE untimely death.

There, fixed it for you.

[Usernames]

Two bad guys in a bad country fighting over loot and putting a lot of bodies into the ground. I am so happy the US destroyed the Russian economy. The effect is to keep this sort of thuggish, brutish behavior at home, instead of inflicting it on the rest of the world. Where's an Iron Curtain when you really want one?

[craigt3365]

Two bad guys in a bad country fighting over loot and putting a lot of bodies into the ground. I am so happy the US destroyed the Russian economy. The effect is to keep this sort of thuggish, brutish behavior at home, instead of inflicting it on the rest of the world. Where's an Iron Curtain when you really want one?

It wasn't the US that had an impact on the Russian economy. It was Saudi Arabia pumping oil to make oil prices low and punish the US for what they were doing along with Russia. And it worked!

[Usernames]

Two bad guys in a bad country fighting over loot and putting a lot of bodies into the ground. I am so happy the US destroyed the Russian economy. The effect is to keep this sort of thuggish, brutish behavior at home, instead of inflicting it on the rest of the world. Where's an Iron Curtain when you really want one?

It wasn't the US that had an impact on the Russian economy. It was Saudi Arabia pumping oil to make oil prices low and punish the US for what they were doing along with Russia. And it worked!

Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought I remembered the US working with the Saudis to bring down the Russians. For the US, it was in response to Putin's assaults and threats against his neighbors. For the Saudis, it was a twofer. They killed off a key competitor, the Russians, and they inflicted a blow against the fracking biz in the US. Put that together with sanctions from the US and Europe, and the Russians got walloped. And they almost disappeared from Thailand altogether, although I have noticed this December that a few more Russians and their boorish behavior (teenage boys doing chinups on the BTS handholds and crowding out other passengers) are sneaking back in. Need to get oil even lower!

[craigt3365]

Two bad guys in a bad country fighting over loot and putting a lot of bodies into the ground. I am so happy the US destroyed the Russian economy. The effect is to keep this sort of thuggish, brutish behavior at home, instead of inflicting it on the rest of the world. Where's an Iron Curtain when you really want one?

It wasn't the US that had an impact on the Russian economy. It was Saudi Arabia pumping oil to make oil prices low and punish the US for what they were doing along with Russia. And it worked!

Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought I remembered the US working with the Saudis to bring down the Russians. For the US, it was in response to Putin's assaults and threats against his neighbors. For the Saudis, it was a twofer. They killed off a key competitor, the Russians, and they inflicted a blow against the fracking biz in the US. Put that together with sanctions from the US and Europe, and the Russians got walloped. And they almost disappeared from Thailand altogether, although I have noticed this December that a few more Russians and their boorish behavior (teenage boys doing chinups on the BTS handholds and crowding out other passengers) are sneaking back in. Need to get oil even lower!

Understood, but Saudi Arabia was punishing the US for fracking also. So hard to understand how the US would support this. Saudi Arabia has been going after the US for some time.

[Usernames]

Two bad guys in a bad country fighting over loot and putting a lot of bodies into the ground. I am so happy the US destroyed the Russian economy. The effect is to keep this sort of thuggish, brutish behavior at home, instead of inflicting it on the rest of the world. Where's an Iron Curtain when you really want one?

It wasn't the US that had an impact on the Russian economy. It was Saudi Arabia pumping oil to make oil prices low and punish the US for what they were doing along with Russia. And it worked!

Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought I remembered the US working with the Saudis to bring down the Russians. For the US, it was in response to Putin's assaults and threats against his neighbors. For the Saudis, it was a twofer. They killed off a key competitor, the Russians, and they inflicted a blow against the fracking biz in the US. Put that together with sanctions from the US and Europe, and the Russians got walloped. And they almost disappeared from Thailand altogether, although I have noticed this December that a few more Russians and their boorish behavior (teenage boys doing chinups on the BTS handholds and crowding out other passengers) are sneaking back in. Need to get oil even lower!

Understood, but Saudi Arabia was punishing the US for fracking also. So hard to understand how the US would support this. Saudi Arabia has been going after the US for some time.

The US fracking industry and its employees do lose. But lower oil prices helps just about everyone else in the US.

[Thongkorn]

This Guy thinks if he applies for political asylum in The UK he will be safe, He will not be ,Remember the last Russian who brought their problems to the UK , he was killed by Polonium. The Russians will not let Britain extradite the alleged killer from Russia,