Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied a petition for a pardon by the ex-chief of security of the now-defunct Yukos oil company, the lawyer for Aleksei Pichugin said on June 9.
"On the advice of human rights activists, Pichugin filed a petition for pardon with the president of the Russian Federation. Recently, we learned that he was denied that," Kseniya Kostromina told TASS.
She said Pichugin, who is serving a life sentence in a penal colony for allegedly organizing the killings of businessmen who threatened Yukos, as well as a Russian mayor, considers himself unjustly convicted for crimes he did not commit, she said.
His position has been upheld by the European Court of Human Rights, she said.
Kostromina did not rule out Pichugin applying again for a pardon.
"The law does not regulate the number of petitions," she said.