Russia issues arrest warrant for Khodorkovsky, puts him on intl wanted list - Investigative Committee
MOSCOW. Dec 23 (Interfax) - A Moscow court has ruled to issue an arrest warrant for former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and he has been put on the international wanted list, Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Interfax.
"Having considered a request by the Investigative Committee's special investigations directorate, the court ruled in Khodorkovsky's absence to take him into custody as a restrictive measure," Markin said.
Khodorkovsky has also been declared internationally wanted, he said.
Russian investigative bodies had earlier issued a directive on holding Khodorkovsky criminally liable on charges of "the organization of the killing and attempted killing of two or more people."
"As a shareholder and board chairman of the Yukos oil company, Khodorkovsky in 1998-1999 instructed his subordinates Nevzlin and Pichugin, and also other individuals, to kill Nefteyugansk Mayor Petukhov and businessman Rybin, whose official duties ran counter to Yukos's interests," he said.
"It is absolutely obvious to the investigation that these crimes were committed with mercenary motives. It was decided to arrange Petukhov's killing because of his legitimate demands as the mayor of Nefteyugansk for the Yukos oil company to refund the taxes hidden from the state. An attempt to kill businessman Yevgeny Rybin was related to his lawsuits against Yukos on recovering damage caused by this oil company's illegal activities," Markin said.
Leonid Nevzlin, Alexei Pichugin, Gennady Tsigelnik, Yevgeny Reshetnikov, and Vladimir Shapiro have already been convicted for these crimes, some of them in absentia.
Khodorkovsky's press secretary Kulle Pispanen said to Interfax that Khodorkovsky's arrest in absentia and his placement on the international wanted list will have no effect on his life and travel.
"Mikhail Borisovich [Khodorkovsky] doesn't care. He is a free man and won't restrict himself in anything," Pispanen said.
Khodorkovsky himself later commented on the announcement on his arrest in absentia. "They've gone mad. Yesterday I understood that. Searches of neighbors who were ten years old at the time of this case, a law so wide in scope that it allows for the shooting of pregnant women and children of all ages - what else is needed as evidence?" Khodorkovsky said in a statement circulated by Open Russia.
"An arrest in absentia without any obvious facts, in this situation that must look just fine. What matters most is the safety of those others," he said.
