Russian investigators on Thursday questioned the elderly father of Kremlin foe Mikhail Khodorkovsky, pressing him for evidence in a 1998 murder authorities claim could have been ordered by his son.
Boris Khodorkovsky, 82, was summoned to appear before investigators as a witness in an unspecified case, but his lawyer said the line of questioning confirmed it was linked to his son, whom authorities say might been involved in the killing of a Siberian mayor.
"It became clear during the interrogation that this was about the murder case," his lawyer Sergei Badamshin told AFP.
Investigators announced in June that they were reviving a criminal probe into the 1998 murder of Vladimir Petukhov of oil-producing city Nefteyugansk, saying that the younger Khodorkovsky -- then the head of oil giant Yukos -- may have ordered the killing.
Officials have said they would seek to question the former oil tycoon, who is challenging President Vladimir Putin's grip on power from his self-imposed exile in Switzerland.
Russian television showed a frail Boris Khodorkovsky leaving the investigators' office in central Moscow after undergoing some two-and-a-half hours of questioning.
"Fuckers," tweeted his son Mikhail Khodorkovsky, linking to a statement about the news.
Badamshin said investigators asked his client "quite a large number of questions," but declined to elaborate on their nature.
Russian news agencies reported that Khodorkovsky had refused to answer many questions, invoking his constitutional right not to provide incriminating evidence against relatives.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, has suggested that authorities were reviving the case to punish him for his scathing criticism of the Kremlin.
His press service said in a statement Thursday that "investigators' actions were an attempt to pressure the former head of Yukos and his family."
The former security chief of Yukos, Alexei Pichugin, has already been sentenced to life in prison over the mayor's murder. Lawyers claim Yukos employees are facing political persecution.
Khodorkovsky, 52, was snatched off his corporate jet in 2003, convicted of fraud, tax evasion and embezzlement and spent a decade in jail, which his supporters said was punishment for daring to challenge Putin.
Putin stunned Russia in 2013 by pardoning the ex-oligarch, apparently drawing the curtain on the most notorious legal case in post-Soviet Russian history.
Upon his release from prison, the former businessman was flown to Germany and now lives in Switzerland with his family.
The elder Khodorkovsky runs a boarding school near Moscow. His lawyer said he has no information to suggest he is planning to leave the country despite the increased pressure.
Russian investigators on Thursday questioned the elderly father of Kremlin foe Mikhail Khodorkovsky, pressing him for evidence in a 1998 murder authorities claim could have been ordered by his son.
Boris Khodorkovsky, 82, was summoned to appear before investigators as a witness in an unspecified case, but his lawyer said the line of questioning confirmed it was linked to his son, whom authorities say might been involved in the killing of a Siberian mayor.
“It became clear during the interrogation that this was about the murder case,” his lawyer Sergei Badamshin told AFP.
Investigators announced in June that they were reviving a criminal probe into the 1998 murder of Vladimir Petukhov of oil-producing city Nefteyugansk, saying that the younger Khodorkovsky — then the head of oil giant Yukos — may have ordered the killing.
Officials have said they would seek to question the former oil tycoon, who is challenging President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power from his self-imposed exile in Switzerland.
Russian television showed a frail Boris Khodorkovsky leaving the investigators’ office in central Moscow after undergoing some two-and-a-half hours of questioning.
“Fuckers,” tweeted his son Mikhail Khodorkovsky, linking to a statement about the news.
Badamshin said investigators asked his client “quite a large number of questions,” but declined to elaborate on their nature.
Russian news agencies reported that Khodorkovsky had refused to answer many questions, invoking his constitutional right not to provide incriminating evidence against relatives.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man, has suggested that authorities were reviving the case to punish him for his scathing criticism of the Kremlin.
His press service said in a statement Thursday that “investigators’ actions were an attempt to pressure the former head of Yukos and his family.”
The former security chief of Yukos, Alexei Pichugin, has already been sentenced to life in prison over the mayor’s murder. Lawyers claim Yukos employees are facing political persecution.
Khodorkovsky, 52, was snatched off his corporate jet in 2003, convicted of fraud, tax evasion and embezzlement and spent a decade in jail, which his supporters said was punishment for daring to challenge Putin.
Putin stunned Russia in 2013 by pardoning the ex-oligarch, apparently drawing the curtain on the most notorious legal case in post-Soviet Russian history.
Upon his release from prison, the former businessman was flown to Germany and now lives in Switzerland with his family.
The elder Khodorkovsky runs a boarding school near Moscow. His lawyer said he has no information to suggest he is planning to leave the country despite the increased pressure.
