Not long before U.S. President Barack Obama landed in Moscow, President Dmitry Medvedev commented to the press on the Mikhail Khodorkovsky case: “If one speaks of the pardoning of anyone at all, of Khodorkovsky, of other persons, then this procedure is implemented in accordance with those rules that exist in our country. In other words, a person must turn to the president, admit himself guilty [emphasis mine–G.P.] of the commission of the crime and beg for the corresponding decision.”

If we take a moment to translate this statement from Medvedev’s faux-legalese – the language of all lawyer-politcians, then it turns out that Khodorkovsky is going to be sitting behind bars a long time still. First, because Khodorkovsky himself, to the best of my recollection, has not expressed any desire to admit himself guilty before, because he’s not. Second, because there exists no such law («rules», to speak in the language of Medvedev) pursuant to which a mandatory condition of pardon is the admission of one’s guilt.