MOSCOW, December 10. /TASS/. The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation has discovered signs of extremism in statements by former head of the now-defunct Russian oil company Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky and sent relevant materials to the Investigative Committee for a check, the Office’s spokeswoman Marina Gridneva said Thursday.
Gridneva explained that the check was caused by a web-posted video recording of Khodorkovsky’s press conference in the Swiss office of the Open Russia public movement, during which he publicly called for a change of power in the Russian Federation by means of a revolution.
"Making during the above-mentioned event false statements on the repressiveness and illegitimacy of the current legislation, illegitimacy of parliament, illegality of Russian presidential elections and dependency of courts, Khodorkovsky suggested sabotaging laws," she said.
"Because of the lack in the country, according to him, of the institution of fair elections and other mechanisms of legitimate change of power, Khodorkovsky called for a revolution as the one and necessary means to replace power, noting that he is already taking certain measures for that," Gridneva said.
"The actions of Khodorkovsky have extremist nature and require a procedural check under Article 144 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Russian Federation, as they contain signs of public calls for forcible change of the foundations of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation," Gridneva said.
"Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Malinovsky decided to send the check’s materials to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation to decide on criminal prosecution of Khodorkovsky on instances of the revealed law violations," she said.