Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s mother, Marina, has given an interview to the Russian radio station ‘Echo of Moscow’; below are excerpts of her answers:

“…Undoubtedly, there are more and more people who support Mikhail Khodorkovsky. After the second trial, the number of people who understood what was going on and started to sympathise increased. Even those people who are not really supporters of Khodorkovsky said – enough is enough.

…We have all become hostages of our law enforcement agencies. Any person can be found guilty on any trumped-up charge. Could such a man as Guriev believe that he could be randomly accused? No, he could not.  Also Kasparov…  None of us are protected. There is no sense of security. Perhaps this environment contributes to the fact that young people are leaving.

…Of course, it is the fault of society that Russia is immersed in the atmosphere of, if not 1937, then 1933 maybe, in Germany – which is a much more common analogy these days. What contributes to this atmosphere is, of course, the State, but with the permission of society – because the public is indifferent.

…Somehow people do not understand that every person counts when it comes to protest. It makes a big difference to the pressure on the government whether there are a hundred thousand or five hundred thousand people out there. Each and every one of us has a role in whether there is a chance for our country in some way to change the course of history”.

Read the interview in full and watch the video in Russian on the ‘Echo of Moscow’ website.