Moscow
Jailed ex-billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky said this week that his prison ordeal is making him a better person. Having lost my property and external freedom, I have entered an entirely new level of spiritual freedom, become independent from everything apart from my conscience and beliefs, he told Zavtra, an extreme-nationalist newspaper. Khodorkovsky was sentenced in May to nine years in prison for fraud and tax evasion in what Western observers called a show trial. The government promptly confiscated Khodorkovskys lucrative oil company, Yukos. The former oligarch now plans to run for parliament from his prison cell. I dont regret what has happened, he said. Every day I spend behind bars is a political act in itself.
