Browder on Khodorkovsky: “I think he should be let out”

Today the Guardian has a good piece on William Browder of Hermitage Capital, who along with HSBC is suing the Russian government, is alleging that high-placed officials within the Interior Ministry participated in corporate identity theft and a conspiracy to defraud $230 million in tax revenues meant for the Russian public. Here Browder presents his strong belief that Mikhail Khodorkovsky should be freed from his unlawful imprisonment.

‘I was critical of Mikhail Khodorkovsky [the jailed Russian oligarch] because he mistreated minority shareholders when he controlled Yukos and we were a shareholder in his subsidiaries. I now have a lot of sympathy for him. I was a target of his behaviour. Now I’m a victim in this absurd situation. I sympathise with him. I think he has had a bum deal. He has paid any dues he could ever possibly pay for anything that he did a long time ago. I think he should be let out and I very much hope he is.’