Supporters of former oil mogul and today’s prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovsky hold pickets in Moscow and Novosibirsk Wednesday to mark the third anniversary of his detention. A postcard with Khodorkovsky portrait is seen on a wet bench in Novosibirsk.
Photo: Valery Titievsky
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“I’m Georgian, and Khodorkovsky Is Georgian, and Picasso Is Georgian”
Supporters of former oil mogul and today’s prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovsky staged pickets in Moscow and Novosibirsk Wednesday to mark the third anniversary of his detention. The tradition slogan – “Freedom to Political Prisoners!” - was reinforced by expressive artistic methods.
In Moscow, roughly 50 pickets were standing at the Pushkin Square yesterday, holding portraits of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Platon Lebedev, Svetlana Bakhmina and posters with slogans: “Two Terms of Putin and Khodorkovsky’s Imprisonment are Years Lost for Russia!” “Freedom to Political Prisoners!” “Putin to Blank Bed instead of Khodorkovsky!”
The people were standing in the rain with no umbrellas. “We’ve come here to show again that Mikhail Khodorkovsky hasn’t been forgotten,” explained one of the pickets.
The sentiment of the rally duly sanctioned by Moscow authorities was generally peaceful. Only when urged by TV reporters, the pickets shouted their traditional: “Freedom to Political Prisoners,” an elderly activist, Nina Gulicheva, cried: “Barter Putin for Khodorkovsky!” in dissonance with the chorus.
Another rally of Khodorkovsky’s supporters was staged in Novosibirsk, the city in Siberia, where he was arrested three years ago. Its second purpose was marking the 125th birthday of Pablo Picasso. So, the arrangers were a group of artists, Alexander Galich Club and the Civil Front Public Organization.
In Novosibirsk, all comers could use paints and color chalks to make clear their civil standing. “I’m Georgian!” was the name of the self-portrait painted by Artem Loskutov, who leads a group of young artists.
“Are you Georgian for the same reason that Khodorkovsky is a political prisoner?” Kommersant reporter asked Loskutov, who, with his thick dreads picturesquely breaking loose from the knitted earflap hat, couldn’t be easily taken for a representative of that nation of Caucasus.
“I’m Georgian, and Khodorkovsky is Georgian, and Picasso is Georgian,” the young artist announced.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 26, 2006
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