The following is an exclusive translation of an interview with Mikhail Khodorkovsky that appeared in the Russian Vedomosti newspaper on Thursday, in the middle of Khodorkovsky’s two-day parole hearing, before the request for parole was denied.

“For me the oil theme is already in the past” — Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former owner of NK YUKOS

Five years ago people considered Khodorkovsky the richest person in the country. Now he regrets that he had remained in Russian then, in spite of the risk of arrest, but says that he could not have acted otherwise

Irina Reznik, Vedomosti, 22.08.2008, №157 (2179)

Yesterday the Ingodinsky court in Chita could not issue a decision with respect to a petition of the lawyers of Mikhail Khodorkovsky about conditional early release (parole). The judge promised to adopt a decision today. The convoyers did not allow journalists to come up to Khodorkovsky, but he answered in writing to questions of «Vedomosti».

— If you knew for sure that the question about a pardon will be decided positively, would you submit a plea or not? After all, many former employees of YUKOS, having become unwilling participants in the YUKOS affair, believe that if they pardon you, then the cases in relation to many of them will be terminated, while someone will be released from punishment. Do they not delude themselves?

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