Finnish parliamentarian Kimmo Sasi has urged the Russian authorities to immediately release political prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Sasi, who is a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), made these comments during a video statement to mark the upcoming 10th anniversary of the arrest Khodorkovsky.

“I am very saddened that Mr Khodorkovsky is still in prison ten years after his imprisonment, this time in Karelia, close to my own country, Finland,” Sasi said. “In fact his imprisonment was a political act by the Russian state. It has been discussed and decided upon in the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg – and the process, it’s a catastrophe.”

Sasi continued: “I urge that Mr Khodorkovsky would be released. I think his input for the Russian society as a free man will be very useful, and I think he would give new nuances for politics and economic life in Russia. (…) And so indeed, if Russia wants to develop, there must be freedom of speech in the country and there may not be imprisonment on political grounds in the country. And I urge the Russian authorities to take measures to release, free Mr Khodorkovsky.”

Watch the full video statement by Kimmo Sasi here.