This opinion piece from Alexander Arkhangelsky was published on RIA Novosti in Russian last week, and then translated a few days later (still before the double murder of Markelov and Baburova).  See Arkhangelsky’s earlier pieces and RA’s “Politics of Parole” on the same subject.

Yuri Budanov has been released from prison, while Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his accomplices remain incarcerated. No matter how one feels about these individuals personally, one thing is clear: there are criminal cases that somehow, on their own accord, turn into cases that are political and emblematic.