The former owner of Yukos and Kremlin opposition leader has spent ten years in prison on charges that many term political. Two years after his release, the Russian Investigative Committee order s his arrest. Possible political asylum in Britain.

Moscow (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Two years after his release, Mikhail Khodorkovsky is again being targeted by the Russian authorities. The Investigative Committee, the top of the national judicial system that responds directly to President Putin, has issued an international arrest warrant against him. The former owner of Yukos announced that he would seek political asylum in Britain.

Khodorkovsky, seen by many as a political prisoner and who has always his claimed innocence, was released in August of 2014 for "humanitarian reasons". Along with his ex- associate Platon Lebedev, the former contractor was charged and convicted of "theft of oil" and "money laundering" in 2010. The two were already in prison for tax evasion. The European Court of Human Rights criticized the judicial process of their trails but rejected the idea that they were politically motivated

Head of the now defunct Yukos, a major oil giant, Khodorkovsky was once the richest man in Russia. His arrest was commented to AsiaNews by Vladimir Rozanskij, prophesying the advent of the "centralized democracy" under Putin. He has already spent a decade in prison.

The mandate is motivated by the alleged role played by Khodorkovsky in the murder of a mayor of Siberia in 1998. The entrepreneur rejects the accusations and says: " I’m considered by President Putin as a threat, economically, because of the possible seizure of Russian assets abroad, and politically, as someone who will potentially help democratic candidates in the coming 2016 elections".

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• Khodorkovsky