Prosecutor General’s Office concluded that convictions to the individuals in the «political prisoners list» were fully justified and lawful. Among those on the list are former head of Menatep Platon Lebedev, former head of YuKOS Mikhail Khodorkobsky and former head of YuKOS’s Security Department Alexei Pichugin.

President Dmitry Medvedev went against the recommendations of an expert panel that said jailed businessman Mikhail Khodorkovksy should be freed, declining to pardon the prisoner during a meeting with the presidential human rights council.

The Presidential Council on Human Rights has presented a report to Dmitry Medvedev which investigates whether the Head of State has the right to pardon a convict without a direct appeal for a mercy or not.

In February of this year journalist Olga Romanova and State Duma Deputy Gennady Gudkov handed a list of political prisoners to the presidential administration. These people have been deemed political prisoners by Memorial Human Rights Centre and the Union of Solidarity with Political Prisoners which put together this list and were also the organisers of, and participants, in the protest meetings at Bolotnaya Square. The editorial office of HRO.org has in its possession a letter from one of the people featured on this list — former Yukos employee Aleksei Pichugin.

The letter to Mitt Romney:

«Dear Governor Romney,

We would like to ask you to support Senator Benjamin Cardin’s S1039 Bill (’The Magnitsky List’).

A round table event was held at the offices of Memorial in Moscow entitled: «Independent courts or the ‘Basmannoe’ system of justice? (Footnote 1) Prospects for creating a state governed by the rule of law in Russia». The event was held within the framework of the «Democracy in Russia» project organised by the Levada Analytical Centre and Memorial.

Dmitry Medvedev instructed the Prosecutor General’s Office to «analyze the legality» of convictions to the individuals listed by the opposition as political prisoners, including Alexei Pichugin, former head of YuKOS’s Security Department. Pichugin’s lawyers Dmitry Kurepin and Kseniya Kostromina commented on the initiative of the ongoing Russian president.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a list of instructions as a follow-up to his February 20 meeting with the heads of unregistered political parties, the Kremlin press service reported on Monday, reports Interfax.