Khodorkovsky's father summoned to Investigative Committee for questioning on Aug 6
MOSCOW. Aug 5 (Interfax) - The father of former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been summoned for questioning, possibly regarding the case of the murder of Nefteyugansk Mayor Vladimir Petukhov, a statement posted on the official website of Mikhail Khodorkovsky said.
"On August 4 investigators of the Russian Investigative Committee came to the Podmoskovny [Moscow region] lyceum for orphans and children from difficult families in Korallovo founded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky's parents. They brought the summons to question Boris Moiseyevich Khodorkovsky as a witness. The questioning is scheduled for August 6," the press office said in the statement released on Wednesday.
According to the summons, Boris Khodorkovsky was summoned by the investigator who probed the case of Alexei Pichugin, the website said.
"We will remind that on June 30 Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said: 'In the framework of the criminal case investigation into the 1998 murder of Nefteyugansk Mayor Vladimir Petukhov it is planned to carry out investigative proceedings aimed at exposing persons involved in committing these crimes, including questioning witnesses and suspects, and Mikhail Khodorkovsky will be among them most probably'," the statement said.
"Investigators came on the next day after the anniversary of the death of Marina Filippovna Khodorkovskaya and Boris Moiseyevich's birthday, who turned 82 on August 3," the document said.
"The time, place and first witness who was summoned for questioning show that no one plans to investigate the Petukhov case seriously; the task to find real killer does not stand and an absolutely innocent person is behind bars for a crime he did not commit for 12 years already. Thus, the only task the Russian Investigative Committee sets for itself is to pressure Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his family," the statement said.
Interfax does not possess statements of the Russian Investigative Committee press office.
The Russian Investigative Committee has reopened an inquiry into the murder of Nefteyugansk Mayor Vladimir Petukhov in 1998, Markin said on June 30.
"As part of this criminal inquiry, investigative measures are to be taken in order to expose persons involved in this crime and a number of other grave crimes. Witnesses and suspects will be interviewed. Khodorkovsky is most likely to be among them," Markin told Interfax.
"I do not think that his absence from the territory of Russia will become an insurmountable obstacle to conducting all necessary investigative activities with him," he said.
The investigation into Petukhov's killing in 1998 has been resumed "because new circumstances have been uncovered," he said.
"The latest information available to the Investigative Committee suggests that this crime and a number of other grave crimes could have been ordered directly by [former] Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky," Markin said.
Nefteyugansk Mayor Petukhov was murdered on his way to work on June 26, 1998. At that time, Yukos was the main employer in the city and the mayor allegedly had a conflict with the company over unpaid taxes to the local budget. The mayor demanded that a criminal investigation be launched against Yukos. Former head of the Yukos security department Alexei Pichugin was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing Petukhov.
