On Monday Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pardoned only Sergei Mokhnatkin, leaving 31 other “political prisoners,” including Mikhail Khodorkovsky, supported by the opposition in prison, according to Richard Boudreaux of The Wall Street Journal.

Mokhnatkin is not a political activist and said he was jailed for breaking a police officer’s nose while defending an elderly lady being beaten by riot police in December 2009.

Until now, the Kremlin has refused to grant a pardon to any prisoner who has not previously requested clemency. Khodorkovsky refuses to seek clemency because he sees it as an admission of guilt.

However, Mokhnatkin’s lawyer, Dmitry Agranovsky, said that his client had sought a pardon, without pleading guilty, on the grounds that he did not threaten society. This has given hope to other opposition leaders who hope that more pardons will be made during Medvedev’s final two weeks as president.

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