Mikhail Khodorkovsky: My Fellow Prisoners

And then the call home is hard. To your mother, your wife. They already know, they understand everything. But you can’t help feeling as though it’s your fault that hope has been extinguished once again, and that years of separation still lie ahead.

Cruelty that begets cruelty. A society where goodness and empathy are seen as synonymous with madness. A country where people are no longer decapitated, nor, on the whole, martyred at the stake, but where we’re still not prepared to fight for every single life, every individual fate.

Friends, fellow citizens, we’re few and far between as it is, and every passing year we’re getting fewer.

Don’t you see, we’re fading away…

Let’s show some compassion for one another, while there’s still someone to feel it for.

And one last thing.

Pick up the phone, give your parents a call.

Before his release on December 22, 2013, MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKYwas one of Russia’s most high-profile political prisoners. Prior to his arrest on October 25, 2003, Khodorkovsky had been known as one of Russia’s most successful entrepreneurs and as a pioneering philanthropist. He led the fight against corruption in Russia, encouraged inward investment, and promoted civil society. He lives in Switzerland and works on behalf of prisoners’ rights.

This edition first published in hardcover in the United States in 2015 by

The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc.

141 Wooster Street

New York, NY 10012

www.overlookpress.com

For bulk and special sales, please contact sales@overlookny.com, or write us at the address above.

Copyright © MBK IP Limited, 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast.

ISBN 978-1-4683-1161-7