The following is an English translation of an interview with Mikhail Khodorkovsky in the Italian magazine L’Espresso:

My life in a gulag 

Talks with Mikhail Khodorkovsky by Gigi Riva

The political and economic interests behind his case. The difficult life in prison. His enemy Putin. The desire of redemption. Exclusive interview with Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former Russian richest man.

He will struggle, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, “until death or release.” Former oligarch and patron of Yukos, in jail for the last six years for tax evasion, fraud, money laundering, is having a second trial (see box). In this exclusive interview with ‘L’espresso’, made possible by his lawyers who addressed him our questions in prison, Khodorkovsky pinpoints the political and economic interest behind his troubles. He talks about Putin and Medvedev as well as about Berlusconi. He speaks about the prisons and the moments in which, even today, in 2009, they can become gulag. However, he still has hope. For himself. For his country.

Mr. Khodorkovsky, may you please describe a typical day in prison?