In what critics are calling a gesture to calm tensions, President Vladimir Putin plans to pardon oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky due to a passed amnesty bill on Thursday, Reuters reported.
During the conference on Thursday Putin said: "He has been in jail already more than 10 years. This is a serious punishment," adding that due to his mother being ill and his asking for clemency, "a decree pardoning him will be signed," Reuters reported.
Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, has already served a decade in jail and was due for release next August, according to Reuters. The release date may be sooner now that Putin announced his pardon during the conference.
The news of Khodorkovsky release caused Moscow share prices to rise showing investors are calmer about the Kremlin politics as the Sochi Winter Olympics draw nearer, Reuters reported.
In the late 1980s, Khodorkovsky was a Moscow student Communist leader who was dabbling in small business. After the Soviet collapse, Khodorkovsky became the richest "oligarch" in Russia under Putin's predecessor, Reuters reported.
After criticizing Putin, who was a former KGB officer, Khodorkovsky was stripped of his power in a display of the weakness of property rights and how the law is used in Russia, causing foreign investors to shy away, according to Reuters.
Due to the extremity with which Putin sentenced him to prison, Khodorkovsky was not expected to be given an early release, and there were even rumors of more charges being brought up against him, as previously happened when his sentence was extended in 2010, Reuters reported.
Khodorkovsky who is now 50-years-old became evidence to foreign investors who say the Kremlin abuse court power for political reasons, though the Kremlin denies Putin singled out Khodorkovsky for personal reasons, Reuters reported.
Shortly after the conference Moscow shares rose over 1 percent, but investors state a sustained rally would need evidence of "a consistent track record of implementation of market-friendly reforms - in particular, of steps to improve the judicial system, so that decisions are more predictable and property rights better protected," according to Reuters.
