AlHijjah 20, 1434, Oct 25, 2013, SPA -- Jailed former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky on Friday marked 10 years since his arrest, which has become a key turning point in Russia's recent history, according to AP. The jailing of Khodorkovsky was widely seen as a punishment for challenging President Vladimir Putin's power. His arrest and the subsequent dismantling of his Yukos oil company sent a chilling signal to others and allowed Putin to consolidate his power and tighten state control over the nation's energy sector. Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, was arrested Oct. 25, 2003, when masked special forces stormed his plane on the tarmac of a Siberian airport. He was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to eight years in prison. In 2010, Khodorkovsky was handed a second prison term for stealing from his own Yukos oil company - the sentence interpreted by many as an instrument to keep him in jail until Putin won a third presidential term. Khodorkovsky is set to be released in August 2014, and his partner Platon Lebedev, who was arrested a few months earlier, stands to walk free in May 2014. Their supporters fear, however, that investigators could be preparing yet another set of charges to keep them behind bars. -- SPA 20:40 LOCAL TIME 17:40 GMT تغريد
