President may pardon Khodorkovsky without appeals - lawyer
MOSCOW. Feb 7 (Interfax) - The Russian president may pardon former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky without an appeal, Khodorkovsky's lawyer Vadim Klyuvgant told Interfax on Monday.
"The pardon rights of the president are unlimited," he said.
The Russian Presidential Council for the Assistance to the Development of the Civil Society and Human Rights may consider an appeal for pardoning former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky if third parties have a right to make such appeals, Council head Mikhail Fedotov told reporters on Monday.
"Any third person, including the Council, may make the appeal. The president can do that, as well. We have no pardon law, but there is a by-law procedure regulating consideration of pardon appeals," the lawyer said.
"It is a sovereign right of the president [to grant a pardon] by request or without request. That must be clear," the lawyer said.
The Khodorkovsky defense said many times they would not ask for a pardon.
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