It is “impossible not to rejoice” at the release of Mikhail Khodorkovsky but his liberty “does not signify any changes in the state of the rule of law in Russia“, leading campaigner Tanya Lokshina (Human Rights Watch) told MEPs today at a hearing in the European Parliament on human rights in Russia.

The hearing, which focused on the crackdown on civil society organisations and repressive laws targeted at homosexuals, comes two weeks before the start of the Sochi Olympics, which Ms Lokshina said was the likely motivation behind Khodorkovsky’s release.

She told the parliament’s subcommittee on human rights that the decision to free Khodorkovsky was “linked to Russia’s efforts to boost its image internationally” and “not indicative of a trend towards liberalisation“.

Ms Lokshina told MEPs that the Russian justice system “still remains subject to political manipulation” and urged them “not to lose focus” on the human rights situation in Russia after the Sochi games.

She added that the current situation represented a “peculiar dichotomy” of “specially designated enemies“, pitting traditional, Russian values against non-traditional, foreign values.

The other speakers addressing the committee hearing were Kiril Koroteev from Moscow-based Memorial and Wanja Kilder from the German human rights organisation Quarteera.

Werner Schulz, a German MEP who met Khodorkovsky in Berlin last week, commented that the “random” circumstances surrounding Khodorkovsky’s release – amid rumours of a third criminal case against him – were indicative of the fact that decisions about him were taken for political motivations rather than according to the rule of law.

Introducing the hearing, the chair of the committee Barbara Lochbihler MEP – a former head of Amnesty Germany – congratulated Khodorkovsky on his freedom, saying that the release of him and other political prisoners at the end of 2013 constituted “welcome signs“.