Interrogation went on for two hours and a half.

Boris Khodorkovsky, father of former Yukos head Mikhail, spent the morning of August 6 at the Investigative Committee headquarters in Moscow’s Gazetny Lane. He had been summonsed for questioning by the investigator Yuri Burtovoy.

The interrogation session, which lasted two and a half hours, focused on the murder case of the mayor of Nefteyugansk.

According to lawyer Sergei Badamshin, Boris Moiseyevich refused to answer the majority of the investigator’s questions.

“The majority of the questions had nothing to do with either Mikhail Borisovich or Boris Moiseyevich. He took advantage of Article 51 of the Russian Constitution: ‘No one shall be obliged to give evidence against himself or his relatives’”.

Sergei Badamshin, Interfax

The 82-year-old father of Mikhail Khodorkovsky made only the briefest of comments regarding the questioning – “The questions had nothing to do with anything” –before heading home.

Boris Khodorkovsky’s lawyer added that the questioning was “conducted correctly”, but stressed that “the shameless purpose of all this is to put pressure on Mikhail Khodorkovsky”.

Asked by journalists whether Khodorkovsky’s father was planning to follow his son’s lead and leave the country in the wake of the questioning, the lawyer replied in the negative:

“Not yet. Boris Moiseyevich’s home is here. To say nothing of the fact that he’s in charge of a 180-children-strong boarding school.”

Sergei Badamshin, Interfax

The lawyer declined to disclose any other details, citing the secrecy of the investigation. He did note, however, that he had refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement, as demanded by the investigator.

IC investigator Yuri Burtovoy, who summonsed Boris Khodorkovsky for questioning, had previously handled the case of former Yukos employee Alexey Pichugin, sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Nefteyugansk mayor Vladimir Petukhov. On June 30, the Investigative Committee announced that the case was being reopened. Pichugin’s lawyer Kseniya Kostromina announced that her client, who has pleaded not guilty to the crime, has not given any new evidence in the case and was not intending to do so.

Open Russia, the social organization headed by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has described the actions of the investigators as an attempt to apply pressure on the former Yukos chief and his family. Khodorkovsky himself, meanwhile, has tweeted his views on the questioning in even pithier fashion.