Mikhail Khodorkovky (Photo by wikicommons, user Press center of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev)

"Thieves should sit in jail", so said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin about the Khodorkovsky affair, a few days after the verdict in the second trial to the former oligarch.

In a live broadcast Mr. said "Khodorkovsky's crimes have been proven" and "they should cost him a 150 years jail term", like to American bankrupt Bernie Madoff.

Putin implicitly accused Mr. Khodorkovsky by reminding of the sentence handed down to the former chief of Security of Yukos, Aleksiei Pichiughin, for some murders: "Do you think he did everything on his own?".

According to the former oligarch's defence lawyers the Russian Prime Minister's declarations were meant to interfere directly with the independence of the judges deciding over the case.

Human rights group Memorial asked for Vladimir Putin's resignation.