Mikhail Marinich was released on 14 April. He had spent over two years in prison. A prominent opposition activist and former Minister for External Economic Relations, and Ambassador, he ran for President in 2001. He was detained in April 2004 and convicted in December that year of “embezzlement by means of abuse of his official position executed on a large scale”. He was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in a hard labour colony with confiscation of property. His prison term was reduced on appeal to three-and-a-half years, in February 2005.
